UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00022092281 


BYTTHE 


NV° ]  v  >  x     -*% 


COUSIN    LUCY 


AT      PLAY 


AUTHOE  OF  THE  EOLLO  BOOKS. 


A  NEW  EDITION, 
REVISED   BY  THE   AUTHOR. 


NEW  YORK: 
CLARK,    AUSTIN   &   SMITH, 

3   PARK   ROW   AND    3    ANN-STREET, 
1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1841, 

Bt  T.  II.  CARTER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE 


Two  volumes  of  a  series  of  little 
books,  corresponding,  in  their  general 
style  and  characteristics,  with  the  Rollo 
Books  for  boys,  but  designed  more  par- 
ticularly for  the  other  sex,  have  already 
been  published,  under  the  names  of 
Cousin  Lucy's  Conversations,  and 
Cousin  Lucy's  Stories.  This,  and  its 
companion,  Cousin  Lucy  at  Study,  are 
now  offered  to  the  public,  in  the  hope 
that  the  little  readers,  into  whose  hands 
,5"~-they  may  fall,  may  be  interested,  and,  in 
V_   some   degree   at  least,  profited,  by   the 

g    perusal   of  them. 
1* 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hi 


http://www.archive.org/details/cousinlucyatplayabbott 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    1.                                Page. 
The  Marble  Box, 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
Metaphysics, • ** 

CHAPTER  III. 

42 
Stories, • *■ 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Ride  to  Town, 56 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Gypsy  Party, •  72 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Morocco  Book— The  Lonely  Sleigh-Ride,.  90 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Mary  Jays  Sunday  School, lQ8 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII.  T 

The  Present, 125 

CHAPTER  IX. 
A  Fright, 138 

CHAPTER  X. 
Royal  a  Protector, 156 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Dictionary, 178 


LUCY    AT    PLAY. 


CHAPTER    I 


THE  MARBLE   BOX. 


There  was  a  box,  or  chest,  of  a  somewhat 
singular  character,  in  the  house  where  Lucy  lived ; 
it  was  called  the  marble  box.  It  was  not  really 
made  of  marble;  it  was  made  of  wood;  but 
then  it  was  painted  marble  color,  and  that  was 
the  reason  why  it  was  called  the  marble  box. 

The  marble  box  had  books  and  playthings  in 
it.  It  was  pretty  large,  and  so  it  would  hold  a 
considerable  number.  There  was  a  handle  at 
each  end,  and  when  Lucy  took  hold  of  one  handle, 
and  Royal,  her  brother,  of  the  other,  the  box  was 
just  about  as  much  as  they  could  conveniently 
carry.  The  place  where  the  marble  box  was 
usually  kept,  was  under  a  table  in  the  back  cham- 
ber entry,  not  far  from  the  head  of  the  stairs. 


10 


LUCY    AT    PLAY. 


There  was  a  lock  to  the  marble  box,  and 
Lucy's  mother  kept  the  key.  She  tied  a  piece 
of  blue  ribbon  to  the  key  to  mark  it,  and  she  kept 
it  hung  up  under  the  mantel  shelf  in  her  room. 

The  rule  of  the  marble  box  was  this  —  that  it 
never  was  to  be  opened  except  when  the  children 
were  sick,  —  or,  rather,  when  they  were  convales- 
cent. When  children  are  attacked  with  sickness, 
they  do  not  generally,  for  a  time,  wish  for  any 
playthings.  But,  then,  when  the  disease  is  once 
subdued,  and  the  pain,  or  the  unpleasant  feelings, 
whatever  they  may  be,  have  disappeared,  —  then 
there  is  a  period,  while  the  patient  is  recovering  his 
health  and  strength,  which  is  called  the  period  of. 
convalescence.  Now,  during  convalescence,  chil- 
dren are  more  in  need  of  playthings  to  interest 
and  occupy  their  minds  than  at  any  other  time. 

There  are  various  reasons  why  this  is  so.  In 
the  first  place,  they  cannot  usually  be  allowed  to 
go  out  of  doors  ;  for,  after  such  an  attack  of 
sickness,  it  generally  takes  some  time  for  the  sys- 
tem to  become  restored  to  its  usual  state,  so  as  to 
bear  safely  the  ordinary  exposures.  Thus,  by 
being  confined  to  the  house,  the  child  is  cut  off 
from  some  of  his  sources  of  enjoyment,  which 
makes  it  more  necessary  that  he  should  have 
agreeable  books  and  playthings. 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  11 

Then,  besides,  during  convalescence,  the  mind  is 
not  generally  in  a  proper  state  to  engage  in  study, 
or  in  any  of  the  usual  duties  of  life.  This  is 
peculiarly  the  case  if  the  sickness  has  been  severe. 
We  feel  weak,  and  are  easily  fatigued,  and  ex 
hausted  with  exertion,  either  of  mind  or  body. 
Consequently  the  ordinary  duties  of  life  are  usually 
suspended  during  convalescence,  and  this  leaves  a 
large  portion  of  time  unoccupied.  It  is  always 
difficult  for  mothers  to  find  the  means  to  occupy 
this  time  pleasantly,  in  the  case  of  the  convales- 
cence of  their  children. 

There  is  one  more  reason  why  it  is  desirable  to 
have  interesting  books  and  playthings  for  children, 
when  they  are  in  a  state  of  convalescence ;  and 
that  is,  that  the  mind  is  in  such  a  state  that  it  is  in 
some  respects  more  difficult  to  be  interested  and 
amused  then  than  at  other  times.  When  recover- 
ing from  sickness,  there  is  often  a  kind  of  lassitude 
and  weariness,  which  makes  the  patient  indisposed 
to  be  long  occupied  in  any  one  way.  Occupa- 
tions and  amusements,  which  would  please  him 
very  much  at  some  times,  fail  altogether  now. 
The  common  books  and  playthings,  which  he  is 
accustomed  to  use  at  other  times,  do  not  afford 
him  much  pleasure  now.  He  very  soon  gets  tired 
of  them. 


12  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

For  these  reasons,  Lucy's  mother  had  often 
found  it  very  difficult  to  provide  the  means  of 
amusing  her,  and  occupying  her  mind,  when  she 
was  sick ;  and  still  more  difficult  to  do  this  in  the 
case  of  Royal.  So  she  told  them,  one  day,  that 
she  meant  to  have  a  trunk  to  keep  books  and 
playthings  in,  expressly  for  this  purpose.  She 
looked  about  the  house  for  a  trunk,  but  she  could 
not  find  any  one,  which  was  not  in  use.  At  last, 
however,  she  met  with  this  wooden  box  or  chest, 
which  was  about  as  large  as  a  trunk;  and  she 
said  that  that  would  do  very  well  indeed.  Royal 
helped  her  to  bring  it  down  stairs. 

It  was  one  day  when  Royal  had  been  sick 
with  the  croup,  that  his  mother  first  formed  the 
plan  of  such  a  box ;  and  she  wanted  to  amuse 
and  occupy  him  then,  as  well  as  to  prepare  to  do 
it  at  future  times,  when  he  should  be  sick.  So 
she  proposed  to  him  to  take  the  chest  into  the 
kitchen,  and  line  the  inside  of  it  with  blue  paper, 
so  as  to  make  it  look  neat  and  pretty  within. 
She  brought  him  some  blue  paper  in  large  sheets ; 
Joanna  made  him  some  paste ;  and  then  he  pasted 
the  blue  paper  in. 

It  took  all  the  afternoon  to  line  the  box  ;  and  in 
the  evening,  when  Royal's  father  came  home, 
Lucy  brought  him  out  into  the  kitchen  to  see  it. 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  13 

It  was  then  almost  dry,  and  was  lying  down  upon 
its  side,  not  a  great  way  from  the  kitchen  fire. 
Lucy  wanted  to  place  it  nearer ;  but  Royal  said 
that  there  was  danger,  if  it  was  placed  too  near, 
that  the  heat  would  warp  the  wood,  and  so  spoil 
the  box. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  our  plan,  father  ?  "  said 
Royal. 

"  I  think  it  is  a  very  excellent  plan,  indeed," 
said  his  father.  "  I  should  like  to  have  had  a 
share  in  the  execution  of  such  an  excellent  plan 
myself." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that,  father  ?  "  asked 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  that  I  should  have  liked  to  have  done 
something  myself  about  this  box.  Mother 
formed  the  plan  and  found  the  box,  and  Royal 
has  lined  it.  Joanna  made  the  paste,  and  you, 
—  you  have  done  something,  I  suppose." 

"  Yes,  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  held  down  the 
corners  of  the  great  sheets,  while  Royal  was  past- 
ing them." 

"  Yes,"  rejoined  her  father,  "  all  have  helped 
excepting  me." 

"  Well,  father,"  said  Royal,  "  I  wish  you  would 
make  us  a  till." 
2 


14  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

"  A  till,"  repeated  his  father ;  "  what  kind  of  a 
till?" 

"  Why,  a  till  here  in  the  side,"  said  Royal,  "  to 
keep  the  small  things  in." 

Royal  explained  more  fully  to  his  father  what 
he  meant  by  a  till ;  and  his  father  said  that  he 
would  see  if  he  could  make  one ;  and  that  he 
would  go  to  work  upon  it  that  very  evening,  af- 
ter tea. 

Accordingly,  about  an  hour  after  this  conversa- 
tion, they  all  came  out  into  the  kitchen  to  see  the 
process  of  making  the  till.  Royal  and  Lucy  set 
out  the  table,  and  put  the  box  upon  the  back  side 
of  it.  Their  mother  brought  her  work,  and  took 
her  seat  upon  the  side  opposite  to  the  one  where 
the  children  had  placed  a  chair  for  their  father. 

"  What  do  you  suppose  father  is  going  to  make 
the  till  of,  Royal  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"Of boards,"  said  Royal. 

"  O  Royal ! "  exclaimed  Lucy ;  "  boards  are 
too  heavy." 

"  I  mean  very  thin  boards,"  said  Royal,  "  very 
thin  indeed." 

But  just  at  this  time  their  father  came  into  the 
room  with  a  large,  smooth  board  under  his  arm. 
The  board  was  about  as  large  as  the  top  of  the 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  15 

box;  and  it  was  pretty  thick  and  heavy.  He 
brought  this  board,  and  placed  it  down  upon  the 
table. 

"O  father,"  said  Royal,  "are  you  going  to 
make  our  till  of  such  a  great,  heavy  board  as 
this?" 

"  Not  of  it,  but  07i  it,"  replied  his  father. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that,  sir  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  I  am  going  to  make  your  till  of  paste- 
board ;  and  I  am  going  to  cut  it  out  upon  this 
smooth  board." 

He  then  went  out  again,  and  presently  returned 
bringing  with  him  a  large  sheet  of  very  thick 
pasteboard.  He  laid  the  pasteboard  down  upon 
the  board,  and  then,  after  measuring  upon  the 
box,  he  marked  out  a  square  upon  it,  as  long  as 
the  box  was  wide ;  and  as  it  was  a  square  which 
he  marked  out,  it  was,  of  course,  as  wide  as  it 
was  long. 

"  What  is  that  for,  father? "  said  Lucy. 

"  That  is  for  the  bottom  of  your  till,"  replied 
her  father. 

He  then  took  a  large  pair  of  dividers,  which  he 
had  brought  with  him,  and  began  to  mark  and 
measure  in  various  ways,  so  that  Lucy  could  not 
understand  at  all  what  he  was  doing. 

Presently  he  said,  — 


16  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

"  Should  you  prefer  to  have  a  fixed,  or  a  sliding 
till,  children  ? " 

"  O,  a  sliding  till,"  said  Royal ;  "  let's  have  a 
sliding  till,  Lucy.  But,  father,"  he  continued, 
after  a  moment's  pause,  "  what  is  a  sliding  till  ?  " 

"  How  do  you  know  that  you  should  like  a 
sliding  till,  if  you  do  not  know  what  it  is  ? "  asked 
his  father. 

"  Why,  I  am  pretty  sure,"  said  Royal,  "  that  I 
should  like  a  till  that  would  slide.  But  I  never 
saw  one  that  would  slide.  They  are  almost  al- 
ways fastened  in  at  the  end." 

Royal  was  correct  in  this  statement.  The  till 
of  a  chest  is  commonly  a  shallow  box  passing 
across  the  end  of  it,  near  the  top,  and  is  usually 
fastened  to  its  place.  But  there  is  an  inconveni- 
ence in  having  it  fastened,  unless  it  is  made  quite 
small ;  for,  if  it  is  large,  it  covers  and  conceals  the 
things  which  are  below  it,  in  the  bottom  of  the 
chest. 

Now,  Lucy's  father  wanted  to  make  his  till 
pretty  large.  He  cut  it  out  square,  as  long,  each 
way,  as  the  width  of  the  marble  box.  Now,  as 
the  marble  box  was  about  twice  as  long  as  it  was 
wide,  it  follows  that  the  till  was  large  enough  to 
cover  one  half  of  the  upper  part  of  the  box.  If, 
therefore,  it  had  been  fixed  into  its  place,  it  would 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  17 

have  been  inconvenient  on  account  of  its  covering 
and  concealing  the  things  beneath  it,  and  making 
it  difficult  to  get  them  out.  So  Royal's  father 
concluded  to  make  it  movable. 

The  arrangement  which  he  adopted  to  secure 
this  object  was  this :  He  brought  in  two  strips  of 
wood,  which  he  cut  off  so  as  to  make  them  just 
as  long  as  the  box  itself,  inside.  He  then  bored 
two  holes  in  each  of  these  strips,  and,  by  means 
of  some  little  screws,  he  screwed  them  to  the  sides 
of  the  box,  within,  about  three  inches  from  the 
top.  Royal  and  Lucy  watched  their  father  very 
intently  while  he  was  doing  this ;  but  they  did  not 
ask  any  questions.  They  thought  that  it  might 
interrupt  him,  and  disturb  his  calculations,  if  they 
were  to  ask  him  questions ;  so  they  preferred  to 
look  on  and  observe  for  themselves. 

"  Now  I  understand,"  said  Royal,  when  his 
father  was  screwing  on  the  second  strip. 

"  What  ? "  said  Lucy.   "  What  is  it  ?   Tell  me." 

"  Why,  these  strips  are  for  the  till  to  slide  on. 
Father  is  going  to  make  a  till,  and  put  it  in  there, 
and  let  it  rest  upon  those  strips.  Those  must  be 
the  sliders  for  the  till  to  slide  upon.  Isn't  it  so, 
father?" 

His  father  did  not  answer,  but  went  on  with 
his  work. 

2* 


18  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

ct  It  must  be  so,  I  know,"  said  Royal ;  "  and  it 
is  an  excellent  plan.  I  like  a  sliding  till  a  great 
deal  better  than  one  that's  nailed  in,  so  that  you 
can't  move  it." 

When  Royal's  father  had  got  the  sliders  secured 
in  their  proper  places,  he  began  to  work  again 
upon  the  till  itself. 

"  Father,"  said  Lucy,  "  why  did  not  you  finish 
the  till  before  you  made  the  sliders  ?  You  very 
often  tell  us  that  we  must  always  finish  one  thing 
before  we  begin  another." 

"  Did  I  say  always  ? "  asked  her  father,  "  or 
generally  ?  " 

"  Always,  I  believe,  father,"  said  Lucy,  paus- 
ing a  moment,  as  if  trying  to  think.  "  Yes,  I 
believe  you  said  always." 

"  Then  I  made  a  mistake,"  said  her  father ;  "  I 
ought  to  have  said  generally :  it  is  a  good  gen- 
eral rule,  but  there  are  some  exceptions.  There 
are  very  few  rules  which  have  not  some  excep- 
tions." 

While  this  and  similar  conversation  was  going 
forward,  Lucy's  father  continued  industriously  at 
work  upon  the  till.  He  cut  out  a  piece  of  paste- 
board of  such  a  shape  that  there  was  a  large, 
square  piece  for  a  bottom  in  the  middle,  and  side 
pieces  all  around.     He  then  carefully  folded  up 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  19 

the  sides,  and  the  pasteboard  thus  assumed  the 
form  of  a  box. 

"  Now,"  said  Royal,  "  how  are  you  going  to 
fasten  the  sides  up  in  their  places  ?  " 

"  Why,  mother  can  sew  them,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  replied  her  father,  "  that  will  not  do 
very  well;  for  the  stitches  would  show  through 
the  paper  that  I  am  going  to  cover  the  till  with. 
Besides,  it  would  be  very  hard  indeed  to  sew  such 
stiff,  thick  pasteboard  as  this  is." 

"  The  paper  will  hold  it,"  said  Royal.  "  When 
it  is  all  covered  over  with  blue  paper,  pasted 
down  strong,  that  will  hold  the  sides  together  in 
their  places." 

"  No,"  said  his  father,  "  not  strong  enough. 
The  paste  would  hold;  but  then  the  paper  itself 
would  break  away  at  the  corners,  after  a  time,  and 
so  the  till  would  be  spoiled." 

"  How  shall  you  do  it,  then  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  You'll  see,"  replied  her  father. 

By  observing  him  continually,  the  children  did 
see.  Their  father  took  some  strips  of  cotton  cloth, 
and  pasted  them  over  the  corners,  turning  the 
edges  over  inside  of  the  box,  and  pasting  them 
down  smooth.  Then  he  covered  the  whole  with 
blue  paper,  just  as  Royal  had  lined  the  inside  of 


20  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

the  box  ;  and  when  this  work  was  completed,  the 
till  was  done. 

He  then  put  the  till  carefully  into  the  box,  and 
let  it  rest  upon  the  sliders.  He  showed  the  chil- 
dren, too,  how  it  would  slide  along  from  one  end 
to  the  other. 

"  Let  me  slide  it,"  said  Lucy. 

"Very  carefully,"  said  her  father,  "  for  it  is  not 
dry  yet." 

"  And  will  it  tear,  now  that  it  is  not  dry  ? "  said 
Lucy. 

"  Perhaps  it  may  not  tear,  but  it  will  easily 
get  bent  out  of  shape.  To-morrow  you  can  slide 
it  as  much  as  you  please." 

The  top  of  the  till  was  just  level  with  the  top 
of  the  chest,  so  that  the  lid  would  shut  down  tight, 
just  as  if  there  was  no  till  in  it.  So  Lucy's  father 
shut  the  lid  down  when  it  was  all  ready,  and  told 
the  children  that  they  might  put  the  box  away. 

"  We  call  it  the  marble  box,"  said  Lucy. 

"  I  should  think  you  had  better  call  it  the  con- 
valescent box,"  said  her  father,  "since  it  is  to 
be  kept  exclusively  for  cases  of  convalescence." 

"  What  does  that  mean,  sir  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Convalescence  means  getting  well,"  replied 
her  father,   "after  you  have  been  sick.      So  I 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  21 

should  think  that  that  would  be  the  most  appro- 
priate name.     It  is  not  really  a  marble  box." 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  only  it  looks  like  mar- 
ble, and  so  we  call  it  the  marble  box." 

u  Yes,  sir,"  said  Royal ;  "  and,  besides,  I  don't 
think  that  convalescent  box  would  be  a  very  good 
name,  for  that  would  mean  that  the  box  itself  was 
getting  well,  —  whereas,  in  fact,  it  is  only  the  chil- 
dren." 

"  True,"  replied  his  father ;  "  that  is  an  objec- 
tion. But  let  me  see ;  I  believe  we  do  use  de- 
scriptive epithets  in  that  way." 

"  Descriptive  epithets,"  repeated  Royal ;  "  what 
are  descriptive  epithets  ?  " 

"  Why,  the  word  convalescent"  replied  his 
father,  "  is  an  epithet.  It  is  applied  to  box,  in 
order  to  describe  it ;  and  so  it  is  called  a  descrip- 
tive epithet." 

"  Then  I  think,"  said  Royal,  "  that  it  ought  to 
describe  the  box,  and  not  the  persons  that  are  to 
use  it ;  or  else  it  is  not  a  good  descriptive  epithet." 

"  So  should  I,"  added  Royal's  mother. 

"  But  I  believe  we  do  use  epithets  in  that  way. 
For  example,  we  say  a  sick  room ;  but  we  don't 
mean  that  the  room  is  sick,  but  only  the  persons 
that  are  in  it.     And  so  we  say  a  long  and  weary 


22  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

road;  but  it  is  not  the  road  that  is  weary  but 
only  the  people  that  travel  it." 

"  It  is  'he  road  that  is  long"  said  Royal. 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father,  "  but  not  weary" 

"But  perhaps,"' said  Lucy's  mother,  "all  such 
expressions  are  incorrect." 

"No,"  said  her  father;  "usage  makes  them 
correct.  There  is  no  other  rule  for  good  English 
than  good  usage." 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  Lucy's  mother ;  "  I'll 
call  it  the  convalescent  box ;  and  I  think  it  will 
be  a  very  convenient  box  indeed." 

They  did  no  more  about  the  box  that  evening ; 
for  it  was  now  time  for  the  children  to  go  to  bed. 
The  next  day,  however,  they  made  some  rules 
for  the  box,  which  Royal  wrote  out  in  a  very 
plain  hand,  and  pasted  upon  the  under  side  of  the 
lid.     They  were  as  follows :  — 

"  Rules. 

"  1.  This  box  must  not  be  opened  for  Royal  or 
Lucy,  unless  they  have  been  sick  enough  to  have 
to  take  medicine. 

"  2.  It  must  be  shut  and  locked  again,  the  first 
time  they  are  well  enough  to  go  out  of  doors. 

"  3.  The  playthings  and  books  must  always  be 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  23 

put  back    n  good  order,  and  the  key  given  to 
mother. " 

When  Royal  had  pasted  the  paper  containing 
a  copy  of  the  rules  into  its  place,  he  and  Lucy 
began  to  look  around  the  house  to  find  books  and 
playthings  to  put  into  it.  Lucy  said  that  she 
meant  to  go  and  ask  her  mother  what  she  had 
Detter  put  in. 

"  What  do  you  think,  mother,"  said  she,  "  that 
we  had  better  put  into  the  marble  box?  " 

"  That  is  rather  a  hard  question  to  settle,"  her 
mother  replied.  "  You  want  very  interesting 
books  and  playthings  when  you  are  sick ;  but  then 
all  that  you  put  in  will  be  entirely  lost  to  you 
while  you  continue  well ;  for  you  know  the  box 
is  never  to  be  opened  when  you  are  well." 

"  Would  you  put  in  my  little  paint-box,  moth 
er  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  no,"  answered  her  mother,  "  I  think  T 
should  not ;  for  you  often  want  to  use  your  paint- 
box when  Marielle  comes  to  see  you." 

"  Well,  at  any  rate,"  said  Royal,  "  we  will  put 
in  all  our  little  pictures ;  for  we  don't  care  much 
about  pasting  pictures,  except  when  we  can't  go 
out  of  doors." 

They  accordingly  collected  all  their  loose  pic- 


24  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

tures,  and  old,  worn-out  picture-books,  such  as 
they  were  accustomed  to  cut  the  pictures  out  of,  to 
make  new  picture-books  with  of  their  own.  They 
also  had  a  number  of  pieces  of  marble  paper,  and 
gilt  paper,  and  other  kinds  of  paper,  of  various 
colors,  which  they  were  accustomed  to  use  for 
making  little  pocket-books,  and  wallets,  and  port- 
folios. These  they  tied  up  neatly  together,  and 
laid  in  the  bottom  of  the  box. 

Then  they  selected  a  number  of  books,  such  as 
they  thought  they  could  best  spare,  and  placed 
them  in  two  rows  in  the  bottom  of  the  box,  across 
the  end.  They  also  put  in  a  number  of  play- 
things, the  large  ones  below,  and  the  smaller  ones 
in  the  till.  When  all  was  ready,  they  locked  it 
up,  and  gave  their  mother  the  key. 

That  night,  however,  when  their  father  came 
home,  the  marble  box  had  to  be  opened  again  a 
moment,  to  put  in  two  parcels  which  he  brought. 
One  looked  as  if  it  had  books  in  it,  and  the  other 
something  of  an  irregular  shape.  Their  father 
would  not  tell  them  what  was  in  the  parcels.  He 
only  said  it  was  something  to  amuse  convalescents, 
whenever  there  should  be  any.  He  then  locked 
up  the  box  again  immediately,  and  gave  the  key 
to  the  children,  to  be  carried  to  their  mother. 

That  evening  Lucy  said  to  Royal,  — 


THE    MARBLE    BOX.  25 

"  Royal,  how  long  do  you  think  it  will  be  be- 
fore you  or  I  shall  be  sick  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Royal.     "  Why  ?  " 
"  Because,"  said  Lucy,  "  only  I  6hould  like  to 
open  our  marble  dox." 
3 


20 


CHAPTER   II 

METAPHYSICS. 

Notwithstanding  their  father's  recommenda- 
tion of  the  name  convalescent  box,  the  children 
continued  to  call  it  the  marble  box.  Lucy  said 
that  that  name  was  a  great  deal  easier,  and  she 
thought  it  was  prettier,  besides.  For  some  time 
after  this,  therefore,  the  children  were  accustomed 
to  call  it  by  one  name,  and  the  parents  by  the 
other.  Whatever  might  be  its  name,  however, 
it  was  found  to  answer  a  very  excellent  purpose. 
It  continued  to  be  used,  according  to  the  rules 
pasted  upon  its  lid ;  and  as,  in  consequence,  it 
was  not  opened  very  often,  and  as  new  books  and 
playthings  were  frequently  put  into  it,  it  came  to 
be  a  very  valuable  resource  when  the  children 
were  confined  to  the  house  by  indisposition ;  so 
much  so  that  Lucy's  mother  said  that  she  thought 
it  would  be  an  excellent  plan  for  every  family  to 
have  a  convalescent  box. 

One  time,  when  Lucy  had  been  sick,  —  long 
after  the  convalescent  box  was  made,  and  in  fact, 


METAPHYSICS.  27 

after  it  had  been  used  a  great  many  times,  —  she 
carried  a  little  cricket  up  to  it,  in  the  back  entry, 
and  sat  down  before  it,  and  began  to  read.  Royal 
had  helped  her  first  to  move  it  out  near  a  window. 
It  was  placed  with  one  end  towards  the  window, 
and  the  lid  was  turned  back  against  a  chair  which 
she  had  placed  behind  it.  She  had  also  placed 
another  chair  before  it,  in  such  a  way  that,  when 
she  was  sitting  upon  her  cricket,  she  could  lay  hei 
book  in  this  chair,  using  it  as  a  sort  of  table 
When  Royal  had  helped  her  move  out  the  great 
box,  he  had  gone  down  into  the  yard  to  play, 
leaving  her  to  arrange  the  other  things  herself. 

Accordingly,  when  they  were  all  arranged,  Lucy 
asked  Royal  if  he  would  not  come  up  and  see  hei 
study. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  I  will  come." 

So  Royal  went  up  stairs  again,  to  see  Lucy's 
study,  as  she  called  it.  He  found  her  seated  upon 
the  cricket,  with  a  picture-book  open  before  her 
upon  the  chair. 

"  Well,  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  I  think  you  have 
got  a  very  good  study.     What  are  you  reading  ? " 

"  I  am  reading  stories,"  answered  Lucy. 

"  What  stories  ? "  said  Royal. 

a  One  is  about  a  parrot,"  replied  Lucy ;  "  and 


28  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

there  are  some  others  which  I  am  going  to  read 
after  I  have  finished  this." 

"But  I  think,"  said  Royal,  "that  you  had 
better  come  down  and  play  with  me,  behind  the 
garden." 

The  fact  was,  that  Royal  was  going  to  make  a 
little  ship.  He  was  going  to  work  upon  it  at  a 
seat  in  a  shady  place  beyond  the  garden,  and  he 
wanted  some  company. 

"  Come,  Lucy,"  said  he,  "  do  go." 

"  But  1  don't  think  that  mother  will  let  me  go 
out  yet,"  replied  Lucy.  "I  have  not  got  well 
enough  to  go  out." 

"  I'll  run  and  ask  her,"  said  Royal. 

Lucy  called  to  him  to  stop,  but  he  paid  no  at 
tention  to  her  call.  She  did  not  want  to  have 
him  go  and  ask  her  mother;  for,  even  if  her 
mother  would  consent,  she  did  not  wish  to  go  out. 
She  did  not  assign  the  true  reason.  The  true 
reason  was,  that  she  was  interested  in  the  story 
about  a  parrot,  that  could  say,  "  Breakfast  is  ready  ; 
all  come  to  breakfast,"  —  and  she  did  not  wish  to 
leave  it.  Her  fear  that  her  mother  would  not 
allow  her  to  go  out  was,  therefore,  not  the  true 
reason.     It  was  a  false  reason. 

People  very  often  assign  false  reasons,  instead 


METAPHYSICS.  29 

of  true  ones,  for  what  they  do,  or  are  going  to  do. 
But  it  is  very  unwise  to  do  this.  They  very  often 
get  into  difficulty  by  it.  Lucy  got  into  difficulty 
in  this  case ;  for,  in  a  few  minutes,  Royal  came 
back,  and  said  that  his  mother  sent  her  word  that 
she  might  go  out,  if  she  chose,  and  stay  one  hour. 

Thus  the  false  reason  which  Lucy  gave  for 
not  going  with  Royal,  was  taken  away,  and  yet 
she  did  not  want  to  go  ;  but  then  she  was  embar- 
rassed to  know  what  to  say  next.  That  is  the 
way  that  persons  often  get  into  difficulty  by  as- 
signing reasons  which  are  not  the  honest  and  true 
reasons ;  for  the  false  reasons  are  sometimes  un- 
expectedly removed  out  of  the  way,  and  then 
they  are  placed  in  a  situation  of  embarrassment, 
not  knowing  what  to  say  next.  It  is  a  great  deal 
better  not  to  give  any  reasons  at  all,  than  to  give 
those  which  are  not  the  ones  which  really  influ- 
ence us,  but  which  wc  only  invent  to  satisfy 
other  persons. 

When  Royal  told  Lucy  that  her  mother  was 
willing  to  have  her  go  out,  she  hesitated  a  moment, 
and  then  she  said,  — 

"  Well,  Royal,  if  I  go  out  now,  I  must  shut  and 
lock  the  marble  box  ;  and  then  we  cannot  open  it 
again  till  the  next  time  we  are  sick ;  and  that 
may  be  a  great  while." 
3* 


30  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  "  and  suppose  it  is." 

"  Why,  then  I  shall  have  to  wait  a  great  while 
before  I  can  hear  the  rest  about  the  parrot." 

"  O,  never  mind  the  parrot,"  said  Royal ;  "  I 
will  tell  you  some  stories  that  will  be  prettier  than 
that  is,  a  great  deal,  1  dare  say." 

"  What  kind  of  a  story  will  it  be  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  I  don't  know,"  answered  Royal.  "  What 
sort  of  a  story  should  you  like  ? " 

"  I  don't  know  much  about  the  different  kinds," 
said  Lucy.  "  How  many  different  kinds  of  stories 
are  there  ? " 

"  Come  with  me,"  replied  Royal,  "  and  I  will 
tell  you.  I  can  tell  you  all  about  it,  while  I  am 
making  my  ship." 

"  But  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  a  little  about 
it  now,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  then  I  can  decide  bet- 
ter whether  to  come  or  not." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  "  there  are  three  kinds 
of  stories  —  true  stories,  probable  stories,  and  ex- 
travagant stories." 

"Which  is  the  best  kind?"  said  Lucy.  "I 
expect  true  stories." 

"  Why,  I  don't  know,"  said  Royal.  "  If  you 
will  come  with  me,  I  will  tell  you  one  of  each 
kind,  and  then  you  can  judge  for  yourself." 

"  Well,  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  as  she  saw  that  ho 


METAPHYSICS.  33 

was  going  away,  "just  tell  me  what  sort  of  stories 
extravagant  stories  are." 

"  Why,  they  are  a  very  queer  sort  of  stories 
indeed ;  you'll  know  when  you  come  to  hear 
one." 

So  saying,  Royal  went  away,  leaving  Lucy  in 
much  perplexity  of  mind.  She  thought  that  she 
would  just  finish  the  story  of  the  parrot,  and  that 
she  would  then  go  and  hear  Royal's  stories.  But 
she  could  not  read  very  fast,  and  her  mind  was 
distracted  with  wondering  what  sort  of  a  story  an 
extravagant  story  could  be. 

She  looked  out  at  the  window,  and  saw  Royal 
walking  along  through  the  garden.  She  wished 
very  much  that  it  was  consistent  with  the  rules  of 
the  marble  box  for  her  to  go  out  and  play  with 
Royal  an  hour,  and  then  come  back  and  finish 
her  story  ;  but  she  knew  that  it  was  not. 

Finally,  her  curiosity  to  hear  the  extravagant 
story  triumphed,  and  she  accordingly  put  the  books 
away  into  the  box,  returned  the  till  into  its  place, 
which  she  had  taken  out  in  order  to  gain  more 
easy  access  to  the  books  below,  and  then  shut  the 
lid  and  locked  it.  She  was  not  strong  enough  to 
put  the  box  back,  where  it  'belonged,  without 
Royal ;  but  she  put  away  all  the  other  furniture 
very  carefully,  and  then  went  down  stairs. 


34  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

She  carried  the  key  to  her  mother,  and  said, 
"  Here,  mother,  here  is  the  key.  I  am  going  out 
to  play  with  Royal.  He  is  going  to  tell  me  an 
extravagant  story." 

"  An  extravagant  story !  "  repeated  her  mother, 
with  some  surprise;  "what  sort  of  a  story  is 
that  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Lucy  ;  "  only  Royal 
is  going  to  tell  me  one." 

Her  mother  laughed,  saying  that  she  should 
like  to  hear  one  of  Royal's  extravagant  stories ; 
and  then  Lucy  walked  away. 

Lucy  walked  through  the  garden,  and  then 
climbed  over  the  stile  at  the  foot  of  it ;  and  when 
at  the  top  of  the  stile,  she  saw  Royal  sitting  at  a 
little  distance  in  a  shady  place  near  some  rocks. 

"  Ah,  Lucy,"  said  he,  when  he  saw  her,  "  I  am 
very  glad  that  you  have  come ;  I  want  you  very 
much.     Come,  run." 

Lucy  descended  from  the  stile,  and  walked  along 
towards  Royal  pretty  fast,  but  she  did  not  run. 

Royal  was  tying  a  knot,  about  his  rigging ;  and 
he  wanted  Lucy  to  put  her  finger  on  to  hold  the 
first  tie,  until  he  secured  it  by  a  second.  So  he 
sat  still,  holding  the  ends  of  the  thread,  and  wait- 
ing for  Lucy  to  come. 

"  Why  don't  you  run,  Lucy  ?     Here  I  am  wait- 


METAPHYSICS.  35 

ing  all  this  time,  —  while  you  are  coming  along 
so  slow." 

"  No,"  rejoined  Lucy,  "  I  am  not  coming  along 
slow.     I  am  walking  as  fast  as  I  can." 

"  Walking  !  "  repeated  Royal ;  "  well,  that  is 
coming  slow.  There,  put  your  finger  on  there 
while  I  tie  again." 

Lucy  put  her  finger  upon  the  place,  saying,  at 
the  same  time,  that  she  did  not  think  that  all 
walking  was  slow.  "  I  can  walk  very  fast 
indeed,"  she  added. 

"  But  I  don't  see  why  you  could  not  have  run 
a  little,"  said  Royal. 

"Because,"  said  Lucy,  "it  is  not  proper  for 
sick  persons  to  run.  I  have  not  got  well  enough 
yet  to  run." 

Royal  laughed  aloud  and  heartily  at  this, — > 
while  Lucy  looked  disturbed  and  troubled,  TThey 
came  very  near  getting  into  a  serious  disagree- 
ment on  this  subject.  They  were  both  partly  in 
the  wrong.  Royal  ought  not  to  have  required 
Lucy  to  run  to  him,  in  that  absolute  manner,  as 
if  he  had  any  right  to  claim  that,  she  should  do  it. 
But,  then,  on  the  other  hand,  when  Lvy  saw 
that  Royal  was  in  haste  to  have  her  come  quick, 
and  do  something  for  him,  she  ought  to  have  had 
the  kindness  to  have  run.     She  was  mistaken  in 


36  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

supposing  that  her  being  sick  was  the  reason ; 
for,  in  about  half  an  hour  after  this,  when  Royal 
went  away  to  sail  his  vessel,  she  ran  after  a  black 
outterfly,  with  yellow  spots,  for  a  considerable 
distance. 

Any  serious  difficulty,  however,  between  the 
children,  was  prevented  by  an  occurrence  which 
fortunately  intervened.  It  happened  that,  soon 
after  Lucy  left  the  house,  her  mother  asked  Miss 
Anne  to  be  kind  enough  to  walk  down  through 
the  garden,  and  see  where  she  and  Royal  were 
sitting,  in  order  to  be  sure  that  it  was  a  safe  place, 
as  she  wished  to  be  careful  that  she  should  not  in- 
cur any  danger  of  taking  cold. 

Now,  it  happened  that,  just  as  the  conversation 
between  Royal  and  Lucy  was  beginning  to  take 
this  unfavorable  turn,  Miss  Anne  appeared  coming 
over  the  stile. 

Lucy  walked  along  towards  Miss  Anne,  with  a 
countenance  expressing  some  uneasiness  of  mind, 
which  Miss  Anne  immediately  observed,  and  she 
said,  — 

"  Well,  Lucy,  and  what  is  the  matter  now  ?  " 

"  Royal  is  laughing  at  me,"  said  Lucy,  in  a 
complaining  tone.  Here  Royal  laughed  again. 
"  And  besides,"  continued  Lucy,  "  he  wants  me 
to  keep  running  all  the  time." 


METAPHYSICS.  37 

"  O  Lucy,"  said  Royal ;  "  not  so.  I  only 
wanted  you  to  run  once,  a  little ;  just  to  put  your 
finger  on  the  knot  while  I  tied  it.  Do  you  think 
there  was  any  harm  in  that,  Miss  Anne  ? " 

"  No,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  not  if  you  asked 
in  a  proper  manner.  If  you  demanded  it  of  her, 
or  spoke  harshly  to  her  because  she  would  not 
come,  —  then  you  did  wrong  ;  for  she  was  under 
no  obligation  at  all  to  run.'' 

"  He  scolded  me  a  little,"  said  Lucy,  "  because 
I  would  not  run." 

"  O  no,"  said  Royal. 

"  A  little,"  replied  Lucy.  "  I  only  said  a 
little." 

"Did  you  know  what  he  wanted  of  you?" 
asked  Miss  Anne.  * 

"  No,"  replied  Lucy.  "  Only  I  supposed  he 
wanted  me  to  do  something  about  his  ship." 

"  Well,  I  think,  as  he  was  waiting  for  you,  you 
might  have  run  along  a  little,  Lucy.  We  ought 
to  be  willing  to  help  one  another.  It  is  as  much 
a  duty  to  be  kind  to  each  other  in  little  things  as 
m  great  things ;  so  that  I  think  you  were  both 
somewhat  to  blame." 

"  What  was  I  to  blame  for  ? "  asked  Royal. 

"For  finding  fault  with  her  for  not  running," 
replied  Miss  Anne,  "  and  for  speaking  to  her  as 
4 


38  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

if  you  had  a  right  to  require  it  of  her.  She  was 
certainly  under  no  obligation  to  come  and  help 
you  at  all,  unless  she  chose  to,  herself/' 

"  Why,  Miss  Anne ! "  said  Royal ;  "  is  not  every 
body  under  obligation  to  do  their  duty?  You 
said  just  now  that  it  was  Lucy's  duty  to  come." 

Miss  Anne  did  not  immediately  answer  this 
question,  but  stood  still,  looking  into  vacancy,  as  if 
thinking;  and  presently  a  smile,  of  a  peculiar 
expression,  came  over  her  face. 

"  What  are  you  laughing  at,  Miss  Anne  ? " 
said  Lucy. 

Miss  Anne  did  not  answer,  but  only  smiled  the 
more. 

"Miss  Anne,"  said  Lucy  again,  pulling  her 
hand,  "  what  are  you  laughing  at  ? " 

"  Why,  I  am  laughing,"  continued  Miss  Anne, 
u  to  think  how  I  am  cornered." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  cornered  1 "  asked 
Lucy,  looking  perplexed. 

"  I  don't  see,"  '■  continued  Miss  Anne,  u  but 
that  I  am  checkmated  entirely." 

"  What  does  that  mean,  Miss  Anne  ?  "  asked 
Lucy.     "  I  don't  understand  one  word  you  say." 

"  Why,  I  told  Royal,"  replied  Miss  Anne, 
"that  it  was  your  duty  to  have  helped  him, 
and " 


METAPHYSICS.  39 

"  But  I  did  help  him,  Miss  Anne,"  said  Lucy, 

"  But  I  mean,  to  run  along  quick  to  help  him," 
replied  Miss  Anne. 

"  I  did  walk  along  as  quick  as  I  could,"  said 
Lucy,  u  and  I  am  not  well  enough  yet  to  run." 

"  Because  I  said  it  was  your  duty  to  make  an 
exertion  to  do  him  a  kindness,"  continued  Miss 
Anne,  without  appearing  to  notice  much  what  Lu- 
cy said.  U  And  that  seems  to  be  true,  without  any 
doubt.  But,  then,  on  the  other  hand,"  she  con- 
tinued, "  I  told  him  that  he  did  wrong  to  require 
it  of  you,  for  you  were  under  no  obligation  to  do 
it.  That,  too,  seems  to  be  true,  without  any  doubt. 
Both  seem  to  be  true,  considered  separately ;  and 
yet,  when  brought  together,  they  seem  to  be  in- 
consistent ;  for,  as  Royal  says,  we  are  all  under 
obligation  to  do  whatever  is  our  duty.  I  don't 
think  that  I  can  get  out  of  the  difficulty  very 
well." 

"  I  don't  see  that  there  is  any  difficulty  at  all," 
said  Lucy  ;  "  for  I  am  sure  that  Royal  ought  not 
to  make  me  run  when  I  am  sick." 

The  truth  was,  that  Lucy  was  not  old  enough 
to  understand  metaphysical  reasoning  very  well, 
—  or  any  reasoning,  in  fact.  So  they  dropped 
the  subject.  Miss  Anne  would  not  go  on  talking, 
and  pretending  to  understand  the  subject,  when 


40  LTJCY   AT    PLAT. 

really  she  did  not ;  and  Royal,  satisfied  with  his 
victory,  was  desirous  of  turning  his  attention  to 
his  vessel. 

"Who  is  going  to  make  your  sails  for  you, 
Royal  ? "  said  Miss  Anne. 

"  I  shall  have  to  make  them  myself,  I  suppose, 
unless  you  will.     See,  there  is  my  sail-cloth." 

Miss  Anne  looked  upon  a  little  sort  of  shelf  in 
the  rock  where  Royal  kept  his  stores,  and  saw 
there  a  piece  of  white  cotton  cloth,  neatly  folded 
up,  and  lying  in  one  corner.  By  the  side  of  it 
were  a  pair  of  scissors  and  a  spool  of  thread. 

"  Where  are  your  needles  ?  "  asked  Miss  Anne. 

"  They  are  in  the  spool,"  said  Royal. 

"  In  the  spool !  "  repeated  Miss  Anne.  She 
had  never  heard  of  needles  in  a  spool. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal ;  and  he  took  up  the  spool, 
and  showed  it  to  Miss  Anne.  There  was  a  hole 
through  the  centre  of  it,  as  is  usual  with  spools. 
One  end  of  this  hole  Royal  had  stopped  with  a 
plug,  of  such  a  shape  that,  when  it  was  in,  the  end 
of  it  was  smooth  with  the  end  of  the  spool ;  so 
that  the  spool  could  stand  up  upon  this  end  for  a 
bottom.  Then,  at  the  other  end  of  the  hole 
Royal  had  fitted  a  stopper,  with  a  part  projecting, 
by  which  he  could  take  it  out  and  put  it  in. 

Thus  the  spool  made  quite  a  good  needle-case. 


METAPHYSICS.  41 

Royal  kept  it  thus  always  in  readiness  for  making 
his  sails,  and  for  rigging  his  little  ships. 

"  Very  well,"  said  Miss  Anne ;  "  and  now 
where's  your  thimble  ?  " 

"  I  have  not  got  any  thimble,"  said  Royal. 
"  I  don't  know  how  to  sew  with  a  thimble." 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  if  you  will  cut  out 
your  sails,  I  will  hem  the  edges  for  you.  Lucy 
and  I  will  walk  along  up  towards  the  house, 
where  I  can  get  a  thimble ;  and  then  I  can  be  at 
work,  while  walking  back  slowly  through  the 
garden." 

Royal  did  this,  and  Miss  Anne  made  his  sails. 
They  were  better  sails  than  he  had  ever  had  be- 
fore. And  so  much  interested  did  they  all  be- 
come in  this  work,  that  Lucy  did  not  think  of  the 
stories  which  Royal  had  promised  to  tell  her.  So 
she  did  not  hear  the  extravagant  story  until 
another  time. 

d* 


42 


CHAPTER    III. 
STORIES. 

A  few  afternoons  after  this,  when  Royal  came 
down  stairs  from  the  room  where  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  study,  he  saw  Lucy  walking  away  from 
the  house,  with  a  little  parcel  in  her  hand. 

Lucy  turned  round,  but  she  continued  moving, 
—  walking  now,  however,  backwards;  and  she 
said  with  a  tone  of  voice  expressive  of  great  pleas- 
ure, — 

"  I  am  going  of  an  errand,  Royal,  all  by  my- 
self. I  am  going  of  an  errand,  and  a  good  long 
errand  too." 

Lucy  was  so  young,  that  she  had  been  very 
seldom,  if  ever,  before  employed  to  go  of  errands ; 
and  she  was  very  much  pleased  that  her  mother 
had  intrusted  her  with  one  now. 

"  I'll  go  with  you,  Lucy,"  said  Royal. 

"No,"  said  Lucy,  "I  don't  want  you  to  go 
with  me.  I  must  go  all  alone  by  myself."  Lucy 
thought  that  having  a  companion  like   Royal 


STORIES.  43 

would  detract  somewhat  from  the  credit  that  she 
would  deserve  by  going  alone. 

"But,  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "I  won't  trouble 
you  at  all ;  and,  besides,  I'll  show  you  the  way." 

But  Lucy  did  not  wish  to  have  the  way  shown 
to  her.  One  great  part  of  the  pleasure  which 
she  took  in  the  expedition  was  in  the  idea  of  find- 
ing the  way  herself. 

Lucy  kept  walking  along  backwards  all  this 
time,  and  was  just  upon  the  point  of  turning  round 
again,  when  her  foot  struck  the  upper  part  of  a 
long  and  large  root,  which  ran  from  one  of  the 
trees  which  grew  near  the  sidewalk,  and  the 
course  of  which  was  so  near  to  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  that  the  upper  part  of  it  rose  a  little  above 
the  path.  Royal  had  just  time  to  say,  "  There 
you  go,"  when  Lucy  fell  over  upon  the  grass. 

Although  it  was  in  the  walk,  still  it  was  a 
grassy  place,  for  the  walk  was  not  much  travelled ; 
so  that  Lucy  was  hurt  only  a  veiy  little.  She 
began  to  cry  ;  but,  perceiving  that  it  was  not 
necessary  in  such  a  case,  she  stopped  just  as 
Royal  came  up  to  her. 

"  There,  Lucy,  I  told  you  that  you  were  not 
big  enough  to  go  alone." 

Royal  did  wrong  to  say  this;  for  Lucy  had 
not  boasted  improperly  of  her   age  and  powers, 


44 


LUCY    AT    PLAY. 


but  only  expressed  a  pleasure  which  it  was  very 
proper  that  she  should  feel  at  being  intrusted  by 
her  mother  with  a  mark  of  increased  confidence 
in  her  strength  and  intelligence.  Besides,  even 
if  Lucy  had  been  vaingloriously  boasting,  her  fall 
ought  to  have  protected  her  from  taunts;  for 
whenever  people  are  led  into  difficulty  by  their 
errors,  the  pain  they  feel  is  punishment  enough 
They  do  not  need  our  reproaches. 

However,  though  Royal  at  first  accosted  Lucy 
in  a  harsh  manner,  he  soon  changed  his  tone,  and 
went  to  help  her  up.  He  smoothed  her  dress, 
and  picked  up  her  parcel,  and  gave  it  to  her; 
for  it  had  been  thrown  off  up  against  the  tree  by 
the  concussion. 

"  Lucy,"  said  he,  "  I'm  sorry  that  you  fell 
down ;  but  you  had  better  let  me  go  along  with 
you,  to  take  care  of  you,  and  help  you  up  if  you 
fall  down  again." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  want  Ij  go  and  do  the 
errand  myself  alone.  I  shall  not  fall  down,  if 
you  are  not  behind  me  to  talk  to  me,  and  make 
me  turn  round  and  walk  backwards." 

Royal  perceived  that  he  had  been  the  cause 
of  Lucy's  fall ;  so  he  said  no  more  upon  that 
subject,  but  only  added,  — 

"  Well,  Lucy,  since  you  won't  let  me  go  with 


STORIES.  45 

you,  just  sit  down  here  a  few  minutes  on  the 
grass,  and  tell  me  where  you  are  going,  and  all 
about  it." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  must  not  stop  to  play  01 
sit  down  by  the  way,  when  I  am  going  of  errands, 
—  only  I  am  going  to  stop  half  an  hour  at  Mary 
Jay's." 

"Then  you  are  going  to  Mary  Jay's,"  said 
Royal. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Lucy,  "  to  carry  this  book." 

While  they  had  been  talking  thus,  they  had 
both  been  slowly  advancing  along  the  path. 

"  Well,  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  it  does  not  do 
any  harm  for  me  to  walk  along  with  you  like  this. 
I  will  keep  a  little  behind  you,  and  so  let  you 
find  the  way  yourself;  and  then  you  shall  do  the 
errand  to  Mary  Jay,  all  alone.  I  won't  speak  a 
word." 

By  these  and  similar  persuasions  Lucy  was  in- 
duced, at  last,  to  allow  Royal  to  accompany 
her ;  and  they  walked  along  together. 

"Now,"  said  Royal,  after  they  had  been 
walking  along  together  a  little  while,  —  "  Now, 
Lucy,  I'll  tell  you  about  the  different  kinds  of 
stories." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  should  like  to  hear 
very  much." 


46  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 


"  First,' J  said  Royal,  "  there  are  true  stories." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  I  like  true  stories 
very  much." 

"  Next,  there  are  probable  stories.  The  things 
did  not  really  happen,  but  there  is  nothing  in  them 
but  what  might  have  happened  well  enough." 

"  Now  tell  me  a  probable  story,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Well,"  said  Royal.  "  Once  there  was  a  boy 
who  had  a  cat,  —  a  beautiful  Malta  cat.  He 
tied  a  pink  ribbon  around  her  neck  for  a  collar." 

"  O  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  never  heard  of  a 
cat  with  a  collar." 

"  No,"  replied  Royal ;  "  they  generally  put 
collars  upon  dogs ;  but  this  boy  had  no  dog,  and 
so  he  put  a  collar  on  his  cat." 

"  What  was  his  name  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  His  name  was  —  George ;  —  no,  Jeremiah," 
said  Royal,  correcting  himself. 

"  How  came  you  to  say  it  was  George  first  ? " 
asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  first,"  replied  Royal,  "  I  thought  I 
would  have  him  named  George;  but  then  I 
thought  that  would  not  be  so  good  a  name ;  and 
so  I  changed  it  to  Jeremiah." 

"  But,  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  want  to  know 
what  his  real  name  was." 


STORIES.  47 

"  Why,  he  had  no  real  name,"  answered  Royal, 
"  only  what  I  give  him." 

"  Why,  isn't  it  a  true  story  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Royal,  "  certainly  not ;  this  is  only 
a  probable  story.  I  have  to  make  it  up  as  I  go 
along." 

"  O,"  said  Lucy.  "  Very  well,  —  only  I  was 
thinking  that  it  was  true." 

"  The  boy,"  continued  Royal,  "  taught  his  cat 
to  follow  him  like  a  dog.  He  would  walk  down 
into  the  fields  and  woods,  and  the  cat  would  follow 
him  all  about.  Sometimes  she  would  climb  up 
to  the  tops  of  the  trees,  trying  to  catch  squirrels." 

"  And  cculd  she  catch  them  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  No,  indeed,"  said  Royal,  in  reply ;  "  they 
were  a  great  deal  too  nimble  for  her.  Besides, 
they  were  light,  and  she  was  heavy ;  and  so  they 
could  run  out  upon  the  light  and  slender  branches, 
where  she  could  not  go.  Once,  she  went  out 
after  one,  and  the  branch  was  so  slender,  that  it 
bent  away  down,  and  she  came  tumbling  down 
upon  Jeremiah's  shoulders." 

Here  Lucy  and  Royal  stopped  to  have  a  good 
laugh  at  this  idea,  which  Lucy  seemed  to  consider 
very  amusing. 

"  But  Jeremiah  caught  a  great  many  mice  with 
his  cat,"  said   Royal,  "although  he  could  not 


48  LUCY   AT    PLAT. 

catch  squirrels.  He  caught  field  mice,  in  the 
grass.  He  would  walk  about,  and  whenever  he 
saw  a  mouse,  he  would  call,  '  Here,  Merry, 
Merry,  Merry  ! '  " 

"  What  did  he  mean  by  that  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  "Why,  he  meant  his  cat,"  replied  Royal ;  "  her 
name  was  Merry." 

"And  would  Merry  come?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  she  would  come  running 
along,  with  her  red  collar  about  her  neck,  and  the 
large  bow-knot  under  her  chin." 

"  You  did  not  tell  me  any  thing  about  the  bow- 
knot  before,"  said  Lucy. 

"No,"  said  Royal ;  "  I  just  thought  it  would  be 
a  good  plan  to  have  a  bow-knot." 

"  Well,  what  else?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  When  the  boy  found  that  he  could  teach  his 
cat  so  much,  he  concluded  that  he  would  teach 
her  to  sail  on  a  board,  in  the  little  pond;  —  for 
you  must  understand  that  there  was  a  little  pond 
behind  his  father's  house.  So,  in  order  to  teach 
her,  he  used  to  feed  her  at  first  very  near  the 
water ;  then  on  the  board,  which  he  would  place 
every  day  more  and  more  on  the  water.  At  last 
he  taught  her  to  go  on  eating  a  piece  of  meat 
while  the  board  was  sailing  about  the  pond ;  and 
finally  she  would  lie  quietly  on  the  board,  when 


STORIES.  49 

she  had  not  any  thing  to  eat,  and  so  let  him  sail 
her  all  about  the  water.  He  made  a  board  of  the 
shape  of  the  deck  of  a  vessel,  and  put  two  masts 
into  it ;  and  he  fastened  a  long  string  to  the  bows, 
and  he  would  take  hold  of  the  end  of  this  string 
himself,  standing  on  the  shore.  When  his  cat 
was  sailing,  he  used  to  call  her  Captain  Merry  of 
the  ship  Floater.  She  looked  beautifully  when 
she  was  sailing,  sitting  up  straight,  with  her  face 
towards  the  bows,  her  tail  curled  round  to  one 
side,  and  the  beautiful  bow-knot  under  her  chin." 

Here  Lucy  clapped  her  hands,  and  seemed 
much  delighted  with  the  picture  which  Royal 
thus  presented  to  her  imagination. 

"Besides,"  said  Royal,  "Merry's  red  collar 
was  useful  as  well  as  beautiful ;  for,  after  a  while, 
the  mice  in  the  field  were  all  terribly  afraid  when 
they  saw  any  thing  red;  and  so  Jeremiah  just 
scattered  a  parcel  of  red  rags  about,  and  that 
frightened  them  all  away." 

Here  Royal  and  Lucy  made  the  road  ring  with 
long  and  loud  peals  of  laughter.'  When  their  glee, 
however,  had  in  some  measure  subsided,  Lucy 
said,  — 

"  And  is  that  what  you  call  a  probable  story, 
Royal?" 

"Why  —  yes,"  said  Royal,  with   some  hesi- 


50  LUCY   AT    FLAT. 

tation,  u  all  except  frightening  the  mice  away. 
I  don't  think  that  is  very  probable.  But  all  the 
rest  is ;  for  a  boy  might  very  easily  put  a  red  rib- 
bon around  his  cat's  neck  for  a  collar,  and  then 
he  might  teach  her  to  sail  on  a  board,  by  mana- 
ging kindly  and  carefully.  But  as  for  frightening 
away  all  the  mice  by  red  rags,  I  think  myself  that 
that  was  rather  extravagant." 

"  And  now,  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  tell  me  an 
extravagant  story." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal.  "  Once  there  were  some 
chimney  swallows  who  built  their  nests  in  a  great 
hollow  tree.     They  thought  it  was  a  chimney." 

"  O  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  they  would  know, 
because  it  was  not  square." 

"No,"  said  Royal,  "not  at  all.  Chimney 
swallows  don't  understand  geometry." 

"  What  is  geometry  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  it  is  about  squares  and  rounds,  and  all 
other  shapes.  Chimney  swallows  don't  know 
any  thing  about  it." 

"  I  should  think,"  said  Lucy,  "  that,  if  they 
could  see  at  all,  they  could  tell  whether  any  thing 
was  square  or  round." 

"Besides,"  said  Royal,  " some . chimneys  are 
round,  and  perhaps  these  swallows  thought  that 
this  was  a  round  chimney.     At  any  rate,  they 


STORIES.  51 

built  their  nests  in  it,  and  found  that  it  was  a  very 
good  place. 

"  By  and  by,"  continued  Royal,  "  there  came 
two  large  gray  squirrels,  and  they  built  a  nest  in 
a  small  hole  pretty  near  the  bottom  of  the  tree, 
about  as  high  as  a  man's  head.  The  hole  went 
in  above  a  branch,  and  was  just  big  enough  for 
the  squirrels  to  creep  in.  And  it  was  large 
enough  inside  to  hold  ever  so  many  nuts  and 
acorns." 

"  Wasn't  the  tree  all  hollow,  from  top  to  bot- 
tom ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  replied  Royal,  "  only  a  small  place  at 
the  top,  where  it  had  been  broken  off  by  the 
lightning.  That  let  the  rain  in,  and  rotted  it 
down  some  way  ;  but  the  bottom  of  the  tree  was 
large  and  strong. 

"  So  the  squirrels  and  the  chimney  swallows 
lived  here  in  peace  for  some  time.  At  last  there 
came  a  great  monkey,  and  he  climbed  up  into  the 
middle  of  the  tree,  and  held  on  there  by  his  tail." 

"  By  his  tail ! "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes  ;  he  curled  his  tail  around  a  branch,  and 
so  held  on  while  he  gathered  nuts." 

"  Were  there  any  nuts  on  the  tree  ? "  asked 
Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Royal,  "  monstrous  great  nuts, 


52  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

as  big  as  my  fist,  —  and  very  sweet.  Well,  ono 
of  the  squirrels,  when  he  saw  the  monkey,  went 
up  and  said,  '  Monkey,  this  is  our  tree.' 

"But  the  monkey  begged  the  squirrel  to  let 
him  stay.  He  said  that,  if  they  would,  he  would 
do  them  some  favor,  some  day  or  other.  So  the 
squirrel  let  him  stay. 

"  By  and  by,  a  man  came  along  through  the 
woods  with  an  axe ;  and  he  went  up  to  look  at 
this  tree.  He  concluded  that  he  would  cut  it 
down.     So  he  began  to  take  off  his  coat. 

"  The  squirrel  came  out  of  his  hole,  and  crept 
around  the  back  side  of  the  tree,  where  the  man 
could  not  see  him,  and  said  to  the  monkey, 
*  Monkey,  there  is  a  man  going  to  cut  down  our 
tree.' 

"' Ah!'  said  the  monkey;  'well,  I'm  pretty 
cunning ;  I  can  contrive  some  way  to  drive  him 
off.  Do  you  go  up  and  tell  the  swallows  while 
I  think.'  So  the  squirrel  went  up  and  told  the 
swallows,  and  they  all  came  down ;  and  then  the 
other  squirrel  and  all  the  little  squirrels  came  up, 
and  gathered  around  the  monkey  in  the  middle 
of  the  tree.  He  then  told  them  what  to  do.  He 
told  the  swallows  to  fly  off  softly,  and  one  by  one, 
into  the  neighboring  trees.  Then  he  told  the  two 
old  squirrels  and  all  the  little  squirrels  to  creep 


STORIES.  53 

down  to  the  branches  that  were  directly  over  the 
man's  head.  Then  he  said  that  he  would  break 
off  a  great  many  branches,  and  have  them  all 
ready ;  and  when  he  gave  the  signal,  the  birds 
must  all  fly  together  about  his  ears,  making  as 
loud  a  chirping  as  they  could,  and  the  squirrels 
must  jump  down  upon  his  head,  and  he  would 
throw  his  branches  down,  and  then  come  tumbling 
down  himself  with  a  prodigious  noise  and  chatter- 
ing ;  and  all  that,  he  thought,  would  frighten  the 
man  away." 

"  And  did  they  do  so  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Royal.  "  The  monkey  gave 
the  signal,  and  they  all  came  upon  the  man  to- 
gether,— branches,  birds,  squirrels,  and  monkey, — 
and  with  such  a  screaming,  chiruping,  chatter- 
ing, and  fluttering,  that  the  man  was  frightened 
away  out  of  the  woods ;  and  he  did  not  dare  to 
come  back  until  the  next  day,  even  to  get  his 
coat." 

Lucy  smiled  a  little  at  this  ingenious  plan 
formed  by  the  monkey,  and  then,  after  a  moment's 
pause,  she  asked, — 

"  Is  that  an  extravagant  story,  Royal  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  I  think  that  is  extrava- 
gant enough." 

"  Well,"  rejoined  Lucy,  "  I  like  it  pretty  well. 
5* 


54  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

"  And  now  have  you  told  me  all  the  kinds  of 
stories  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  believe  so,"  replied  Royal. 

"  No,"  added  Lucy,  "  you  have  not  told  me 
any  true  story.  Just  tell  me  one  true  story,  and 
that  will  be  all." 

"  Well,"  replied  Royal,  "  let  me  consider.  — 
Well.  Once  there  was  a  little  girl,  and  she  was 
going  of  an  errand  for  her  mother." 

"  What  was  her  name  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  O,  never  mind  about  her  name,"  said  Royal. 
"  She  was  going  of  an  errand  to  carry  a  book." 

"  That's  just  like  my  errand,"  said  Lucy. 

"  After  she  had  set  out,"  continued  Royal,  "  her 
brother  came  and  called  to  her,  and  she  turned 
round  to  speak  to  him.  While  she  was  speaking 
to  him,  she  kept  walking  on  backwards." 

"  Why,  that's  me,  Royal.  I  verily  believe  you 
are  telling  about  me." 

"  And  she  tripped  over  a  root,  and  tumbled 
down,"  continued  Royal. 

"  It  is  nobody  but  me,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  know ; 
and  I  don't  want  to  hear  that." 

"  But  that  is  a  true  story,  and  you  said,  before  I 
began,  that  you  liked  true  stories  the  best." 

"  Well,  I  don't,"  said  Lucy ;  "  I  like  the  ex- 
travagant stories  the  best." 


STORIES.  55 

By  this  time,  Lucy  and  Royal  reached  Mary 
Jay's,  and  Lucy  went  in  to  do  her  errand,  while 
Royal  walked  around  behind  the  house  to  see  the 
water  post,  which  is  described  in  the  book  cailed 
Lucy  At  Study. 


56 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   RIDE    TO   TOWN. 

Lucy's  father  lived  not  a  great  many  miles 
from  a  town  which  was  quite  large;  and  the 
family  used  often  to  ride  to  the  town  in  a  chaise 
or  carryall.  When  only  two  wanted  to  go,  they 
took  the  chaise ;  but  if  more  than  two,  the  carry- 
all, as  that  had  seats  for  four. 

One  pleasant  morning,  Lucy,  Miss  Anne,  and 
Royal,  set  out  in  the  carryall  to  go  to  the  town, 
to  do  some  shopping.  Royal  sat  upon  the  front 
seat  to  drive.  Lucy  and  Miss  Anne  sat  behind. 
Royal  moved  out  to  the  end  of  the  front  seat,  and 
then  sat  with  his  back  turned  a  little  to  the  side 
of  the  carryall ;  and  by  this  arrangement  he  could 
see  the  horse,  and  could  also  join  in  the  conversa- 
tion with  Lucy  and  Miss  Anne. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  buy  in  town,  Miss 
Anne  ?  "  asked  Royal. 

"  O,  various  things,"  replied  Miss  Anne ; 
"  among  the  rest,  I  am  going  to  buy  a  book  for 
Lucy." 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  57 

"What  book?"  asked  Royal. 

"We  have  not  decided.  We  are  going  to 
choose  it  when  we  get  to  the  bookstore." 

Just  at  this  moment,  Royal's  attention  was  at- 
tracted by  the  sight  of  the  heads  of  a  yoke  of 
oxen,  just  coming  into  view,  in  the  road  before 
them,  as  they  were  coming  up  a  hill.  The  heads 
seemed  to  shake  and  to  be  agitated,  as  if  the  oxen 
were  running.  As  they  came  up  higher,  and 
Royal  could  see  a  part  of  their  bodies,  he  found 
that  they  were  running,  and  drawing  after  them 
a  large  hay  cart ;  that  is,  a  cart  with  a  large  rack 
upon  the  axletree,  for  holding  hay,  instead  of  the 
common  cart-body.  The  hay  cart  was  empty. 
There  was  nobody  near  the  oxen  to  drive  them. 

In  an  instant,  however,  Royal's  eye  glanced 
farther  down  the  hill,  —  for  he  had  now  advanced 
so  far  towards  the  brow  of  it,  that  he  could  see 
better,  —  and  there  he  perceived  a  man  running  up 
the  hill,  with  a  goad-stick  in  his  hand,  and  shout- 
ing out  all  the  time,  for  the  oxen  to  stop. 

"  O  dear  me  I  "  said  Lucy,  "  O  dear  me !  now 
we  shall  all  be  run  over." 

"Take  the  reins,  Miss  Anne,"  said  Royal; 
"just  take  the  reins."  So  saying,  he  passed  the 
reins  into  Miss  Anne's  hands  on  the  back  seat,  and 
sprang  out  of  the  carryall.     He  ran  forward,  and 


5S  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

began  to  inarch  up  towards  the  oxen  with  a  bold 
and  determined  look,  brandishing  his  whip,  and 
shouting  to  them,  to  make  them  stop. 

The  oxen  slackenea  their  pace  a  little,  but  did 
not  seem  much  inclined  to  stop.  They,  however, 
turned  a  little  to  one  side.  Royal  then  concluded 
to  let  them  go  on,  but  to  drive  them  away  out  to 
one  side,  so  that  they  should  not  run  against  the 
carryall.  So  he  flourished  his  whip  at  them,  and 
turned  them  off  more  and  more.  The  oxen 
shook  their  heads  at  Royal,  but  ran  on,  until,  at 
length,  one  wheel  of  the  cart  passed  over  a  large 
stone  by  the  side  of  the  road,  while  the  other  sank 
into  a  hole,  and  the  cart  upset.  The  great  rack 
tumbled  off  upon  one  side,  and  the  oxen,  having 
come  up  against  the  fence,  stopped.  Just  at  this 
moment,  the  man  came  running  up  to  them. 

"  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  stopping 
my  steers,"  said  the  man.  "  They  are  as  wild  as 
a  pair  of  colts." 

Royal  looked  at  the  oxen,  and  observed  that 
they  were  quite  small. 

"  I  have  been  to  get  this  hay  cart,"  continued 
the  man,  "  and,  while  I  stepped  into  the  black- 
smith's shop  a  minute,  they  got  away,  and  under- 
took to  run  home.  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
stopping  them." 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  59 

"But  I  am  sorry  your  cart  is  broken,"  said 
Royal. 

"  O,  it  is  not  broken,"  replied  the  man,  "only 
the  rack  has  come.  off.  I  can  put  it  right  on 
again,  —  if  you  would  be  so  good  as  to  stop  and 
help  me  a  moment,  about  backing  the  oxen." 

Just  then  the  man  happened  to  see  a  boy  com- 
ing up  the  road,  and  he  immediately  said,  — 

"  Ah,  no  ;  here  comes  Jerry.  Jerry  !  "  said  he, 
in  a  louder  voice,  calling  to  the  boy,  "  come  here 
quick,  and  help  me  get  this  rack  on." 

Then  Royal,  rinding  that  he  was  no  longer 
needed,  got  into  the  carryall  again,  took  the  reins 
from  Miss  Anne's  hands,  and  drove  on. 

"The  man  seems  very  glad  to  get  his  oxen 
again,"  said  Miss  Anne. 

"  His  steers,"  said  Lucy.  "  He  said  they  were 
steers." 

"  Yes,"  added  Royal ;  "  but  he  need  not  have 
thanked  me  so  much  for  stopping  his  steers ;  I  did 
not  think  of  doing  him  any  good,  —  but  only  of 
keeping  them  from  running  against  the  carryall." 

Lucy  here  kneeled  up  upon  the  seat,  and  put 
her  head  out  at  the  side  of  the  carryall,  where  the 
curtain  had  been  rolled  up,  and  looked  back  to 
see  what  they  were  doing. 


60  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

"  How  do  they  get  along,  Lucy  ?  "  said  Royal. 

"  Why,  the  man  has  got  the  hay  cart  out  in  the 
road,  and  the  oxen  and  the  wheels  too." 

"  The  hay  rack,  you  mean,"  said  Royal. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  great  thing  like  a 
cage,  which  tumbled  off.  Now  the  man  is  hold- 
ing it  up,  and  the  boy  is  backing  the  oxen  so  as 
to  get  the  wheels  under  it.  Do  you  think  you 
could  have  backed  the  oxen,  Royal,  if  his  boy 
had  not  come  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  I  could  have  backed 
them,  I  have  no  doubt." 

"  There  was  one  thing,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  that 
I  noticed,  that  was  singular." 

"  What  was  it  ?  "  asked  Royal. 

"  Why,  the  great  difference  in  the  man's  way 
of  speaking,  when  he  was  asking  Royal  to  help 
him  put  his  cart  together,  and  when  he  called  the 
boy  to  come." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal ;  "  he  asked  me  if  I  would 
be  kind  enough  to  do  it ;  but  he  said  to  Jerry, 
'  Here,  Jerry,  come  here  quick." 

"  Yes,"  rejoined  Miss  Anne ;  "  now,  what 
was  the  reason  of  the  difference  ?  " 

"  Why,  Jerry  was  his  boy,  I  suppose,"  said 
Lucy. 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  61 

"  I  don't  see  that  that  makes  any  difference," 
said  Royal.  "  A  man  ought  to  speak  as  pleas- 
antly to  his  boy  as  to  any  other  boy." 

"  He  did  speak  pleasantly,"  said  Miss  Anne, 
"  only  he  spoke  to  Jerry  in  the  form  of  command ; 
but  in  speaking  to  you,  he  only  made  a  re- 
quest. The  reason  was,  as  Lucy  says,  that  Jerry 
was  his  boy,  and  so  bound  to  do  whatever  he 
should  say  ;  but  you  were  not  his  boy,  and  there- 
fore under  no  obligation  to  help  him." 

"  No,"  said  Royal,  "  I  might  do  just  as  I 
pleased  about  it." 

"  And  yet,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  are  you  not 
under  obligation  to  help  any  one  whom  you  find 
in  trouble  or  difficulty  when  you  can  do  it  so 
easily  ? " 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Royal. 

"  So  it  seems,  in  that  point  of  view,  that  you 
were  under  obligation  to  help  the  man,  as  truly  as 
his  boy  Jerry  was,  —  though  it  was  an  obligation 
of  a  different  kind.  He  was  bound  to  do  it,  be- 
cause it  is  every  boy's  duty  to  obey  his  father ; 
you,  because  it  is  every  boy's  duty  to  help  those 
who  are  in  difficulty  or  trouble." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal. 

"  It  is  a  case  very  much  like  the  one  we  had 
the  other  day,  when  Lucy  would  not  run  to  help 
6 


62  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

you  tie  the  knot.  I  asked  your  father  about  it 
afterwards,  and  he  explained  it  to  me." 

"And  what  did  he  say  about  it?  "  asked  Royal. 

"  Why,  he  said,"  rejoined  Miss  Anne,  "  that  it 
very  often  happens  that  there  is  a  duty  which  we 
ought  to  perform  to  a  person,  and  yet  we  are  not 
responsible  to  him  if  we  do  not  perform  it.  He 
told  me  a  story  to  help  explain  it." 

"  What  was  the  story,  Miss  Anne  ? "  said 
Lucy.     "  Tell  it  to  us." 

"  It  was  about  a  widow  and  her  garden.  The 
widow  was  poor,  and  rather  cross,  and  she  had 
one  son,  who  took  care  of  her  garden.  At  last 
her  son  became  sick,  and  so  the  poor  widow's 
garden  was  neglected. 

"  Now,  it  happened  that  a  gentleman  lived  near, 
who  had  a  gardener.  He  was  walking  by  the 
widow's  house,  and  he  looked  over  the  fence,  and 
he  saw  that  the  weeds  were  getting  up  pretty 
hio-h.     So  he  told  the  widow  that  the  next  morn- 

o 

ing  he  would  bring  his  gardener,  and  let  him  put 
it  in  order  for  her. 

"  The  widow  said  that  she  had  hired  a  man  to 
come  the  next  morning. 

" '  Very  well/  said  the  gentleman,  '  I  will  let 
my  gardener  come  and  help ;  and  then  you  will 
not  have  so  much  to  pay.' 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  63 

"  Accordingly  he  came  the  next  morning,  and 
set  his  gardener  at  work,  telling  him  what  to  do. 
Then  he  went  away,  and  the  two  men  went  on 
working,  one  upon  one  side  of  the  garden,  and 
the  other  on  the  other. 

"  At  length,  after  they  had  been  working  about 
an  hour,  the  woman  came  out  and  began  to  scold 
them  because  they  did  not  work  faster.  When 
she  came  to  the  gentleman's  gardener,  he  stopped, 
and  listened  to  her  a  few  minutes,  leaning  on  his 
hoe,  and  then  he  said,  — 

" '  I  will  thank  you,  ma'am,  to  go  and  scold 
your  own  man.     I  am  responsible  to  my  master.' " 

"  Is  that  all  the  story,  Miss  Anne  ?  "  said  Lucy, 
when  she  found  that  Miss  Anne  paused. 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  that  is  all." 

"  I  don't  see  how  that  explains  the  difficulty, 
exactly,"  said  Royal. 

«  Why,  it  is  to  show  that,  though  the  gardener 
was  performing  a  duty  which  was  for  the  advan- 
tage of  the  woman,  yet  he  was  not  responsible  to 
her  for  the  performance  of  it.  He  was  under 
obligation,  but  not  under  obligation  to  her.  So  it 
often  happens  that  persons  are  under  obligation  to 
do  things,  and  yet  they  are  not  under  any  obliga- 
tions to  us.  And  in  such  cases,  we  have  no  right 
to  insist  upon  their  doing  them,  nor  to  command 


64  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

them  to  do  them.  You  were  under  obligation  to 
help  the  man  out  of  his  difficulty  with  the  cart, 
but  you  were  not  under  obligation  to  him." 

"  Who  is  it,  then,  that  I  am  under  obligation  to, 
in  such  a  case  ? "  asked  Royal. 

"  Why,  to  conscience,  —  or  to  God.  But  you 
are  not  responsible  to  the  man  at  all.  Of  course, 
if  he  wishes  you  to  do  it,  he  ought  only  to  request 
it.  He  must  not  command.  But  his  boy  is 
under  obligation  to  him.  The  obligation  is,  per- 
haps, no  greater  in  itself,  but  it  runs  to  the  man 
himself,  and  the  man  has  a  right  to  exact  the 
fulfilment  of  it.  But  your  obligation  is  not  to  him 
at  all ;  and  he  has  no  right  to  insist  upon  your 
fulfilling  it,  or  to  call  you  to  account  for  it  at  all." 

Royal  listened  very  attentively  to  this  explana- 
tion, though  Lucy  did  not  understand  it  very 
well.  However,  Lucy  understood  better  what 
followed. 

"  Your  father  told  me,"  continued  Miss  Anne, 
"  that  this  was  a  distinction  in  moral  philosophy, 
very  important  for  children  to  understand." 

"  Is  that  moral  philosophy  ? "  ask*d  Royal. 

"Yes,"  rejoined  Miss  Anne.  "He  said  it 
would  very  much  promote  peace  and  harmony 
among  children,  if  they  only  knew  the  difference 
between  what  they  have  a  right  to  insist  upon 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  65 

from  each  other,  and  what  they  have  not.  They 
often  think  that,  because  a  playmate  ought  to  do 
a  thing,  therefore  they  have  a  right  to  insist  upon 
it.  For  instance,  one  boy  wanted  another  to  go 
and  be  his  horse,  and  was  displeased  with  him 
because  he  would  not  go,  and  found  a  great  deal 
of  fault  with  him.  Another  boy,  named  Thomas, 
had  two  apples,  and  his  brother  James  had  none. 
James  asked  Thomas  to  give  him  one,  but  Thomas 
would  not.  So  James  sat  down  muttering  sullen- 
ly, and  looking  very  ill-humored,  and  every  now 
and  then  would  tease  Thomas  to  give  him  an 
apple.  Just  then  his  father  came  along,  and 
asked  him  what  was  the  matter.  '  Why,  Thomas 
won't  give  me  an  apple,'  said  he,  ( when  he  has 
got  two,  and  I  haven't  got  any.'  <  Well,'  said  his 
father,  'you  ought  not  to  look  out  of  humor 
about  that,  and  to  try  to  compel  him  to  give  you 
the  apple,  by  teasing  and  fretting.'  '  Why,  father,' 
said  James,  '  I  am  sure  he  ought  to  do  as  he  would 
be  done  by  ;  and  I  know  he  would  want  me  to 
give  him  an  apple  if  I  had  two.'  '  Yes,'  replied 
his  father,  '  I  don't  deny  that  he  ought  to  give 
you  the  apple.  I  only  deny  that  you  have  any 
right  to  insist  upon  it.  He  is  not  responsible  to 
you,  at  all.  If  he  had  agreed  to  give  you  an 
apple,  on  account  of  something  which  you  had 
6  # 


b6  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

done  for  him,  then  the  obligation  would  have  been 
to  you,  and  you  might  have  insisted  upon  it.  But 
in  this  case  it  is  only  his  general  obligation  to  be 
kind  and  friendly  ;  and  you  have  no  jurisdiction  over 
that.     He  is  not  responsible  to  you  for  that,  at  all.' 

"  So,  you  see,"  continued  Miss  Anne,  "  children 
often  insist  upon  things  which  they  have  no  right 
to  insist  upon,  —  though  perhaps  the  other  chil- 
dren ought  to  do  them." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal.  "  Once  we  were  playing 
together,  and  there  were  four  boys,  and  it  takes 
four  to  play  ball,  —  and  we  all  wanted  to  play 
but  one,  and  he  wouldn't,  and  so  the  rest  of  us 
could  not  play." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Anne.  "  Now,  I  suppose 
that,  in  such  a  case,  he  ought  to  have  been  will- 
ing to  play  ;  but,  if  he  would  not,  you  would  have 
no  right  to  insist  upon  it.  Children  veiy  often  are 
unreasonable  in  urging  others  to  play  with  them, 
when  they  do  not  wish  to." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  is  the  way  that  Royal 
always  does  with  me." 

w  O  no,  I  don't,  Lucy,  I'm  sure." 

"  Yes,"  added  Lucy,  "  you  want  me  to  be  your 
horse,  very  often,  when  I  don't  want  to;  —  and, 
besides,  I  don't  think  it  is  proper  for  me  to  be  youi 
horse." 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  67 

"  Well,  never  mind  lhat  now,"  said  Miss  Anne. 
"  We  won't  spoil  the  pleasure  of  our  ride  by  a 
dispute." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  I  mean  to  take  out 
my  money-purse,  and  count  my  money,  and  see 
if  it  is  all  safe." 

Lucy  had  several  pieces  of  money  which  her 
father  had  given  her  to  buy  something  with,  in 
the  town.  She  was  going  to  buy  a  book,  and 
any  thing  besides,  which  Miss  Anne  might  ap- 
prove. So  she  poured  the  money  out  upon  her 
lap,  and  began  to  count  it. 

"  What  would  you  buy  with  this  money,  Miss 
Anne  ? "  said  Lucy,  after  she  had  counted  it,  and 
found  it  all  safe. 

"  Why,  I  can  hardly  say,  till  I  see  what  they 
have  got  to  sell.  But  I  can  tell  you  what  I  think 
I  would  not  buy." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  what  ? " 

"  Why,  I  think  I  would  not  buy  any  very  per- 
ishable property." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  perishable  prop- 
erty ? " 

"  Property  that  is  soon  consumed  or  destroyed. 
Sugar-plums  are  very  perishable  property  indeed ; 
for  you  eat  them,  and  they  are  gone." 

"  But  a  doll  isn't  perishable,  is  it  ?  "  said  Lucy 


68 


LUCY    AT    PLAY. 


"No,  not  so  perishable  as  sugar-plums  or 
candy.     But  you  have  got  a  doll." 

"  Yes,  but  I  want  a  new  one,  for  my  doll  is  old 
and  worn  out." 

"  So,  you  see,  dolls  are  perishable ;  that  is,  they 
will  wear  out." 

"  Then  every  thing  is  perishable,"  said  Royal, 
"  for  every  thing  will  wear  out  in  time." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  but  then  some 
things  will  last  so  long  that  we  do  not  consider 
them  perishable.  A  silver  bowl,  for  instance,  will 
last  for  several  generations ;  but  then  it  would 
wear  out  in  time." 

"  I  should  not  think  it  would  ever  wear  out,  if 
it  was  really  silver,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,  if  it  was  used,  it  would  wear  out  in  time ; 
but  it  would  take  a  very  long  time.  At  any  rate, 
we  should  not  consider  it  perishable  property.  A 
silver  thimble  would  not  be  perishable  property." 

"  Is  a  book  perishable?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,  more  so  than  many  other  things  ;  for  it 
gets  worn  out  and  defaced,  so  that  its  value  is 
destroyed  before  a  great  while.  A  box  is  not  so 
perishable,  —  a  handsome,  well-made  box." 

"  I  believe  I'll  buy  a  box,"  said  Lucy. 

"  I'd  buy  something  not  very  perishable,  if  I 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  69 

were  you,  at  any  rate,  and  then  you  can  keep  it 
and  enjoy  it  a  great  many  years." 

"  Well,"  replied  Lucy.  "  But  what  other  kind 
of  things  are  there  that  you  would  not  buy  ?  " 

"  I  would  not  buy  any  thing  that  you  are  grow- 
ing away  from.  I  would  rather  buy  something 
that  you  are  growing  up  to." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  that,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  once  there  was  a  boy  about  three  years 
old.  He  had  never  had  any  playthings  bought 
for  him,  because  his  father  had  no  money  to  spare. 
But  one  day  his  uncle  came  to  visit  him,  and  he 
gave  him  a  shilling  to  go  and  buy  himself  a  play- 
thing with.  So  he  went  to  the  toy-shop,  and  they 
showed  him  a  whistle  and  a  ball.  Now,  he  was 
not  quite  old  enough  to  play  with  a  ball,  though 
it  was  almost  time  for  him  to  be  too  old  to  be 
amused  much  with  a  whistle.  However,  he  con- 
cluded to  take  the  whistle.  It  was  a  very  good 
whistle,  and  it  lasted  a  long  time ;  but  he  very 
soon  ceased  to  care  any  thing  about  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  very  soon  became  big  enough  to 
play  ball,  and  then  almost  every  time  that  he  saw 
his  whistle  for  two  years,  he  wished  that  it  was  a 
ball.     He  did  not  consider,  when  he  bought  it, 


70  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

that  the  time  for  him  to  be  pleased  with  a  whistle 
was  almost  gone  by,  while  the  time  for  him  to  be 
pleased  with  a  ball  was  all  to  come.  He  bought 
something  that  he  was  growing  away  from." 

"  What  kind  of  a  ball  was  it,  Miss  Anne  ? " 
asked  Royal. 

"  An  India  rubber  ball,"  replied  Miss  Anne, 
"  large,  and  round,  and  smooth." 

"  What  a  foolish  boy  !  "  said  Royal. 

"Yes,  he  was  not  so  wise  as  a  giri  I  knew 
once,  named  Harriet." 

"  Why,  what  did  she  do  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

*c  When  she  was  twelve  years  old,  her  father 
gave  her  five  dollars  to  buy  whatever  she  pleased 
with,  for  a  birthday  present.  There  were  two 
things  which  she  thought  of,  which  she  could 
have  for  five  dollars.  One  was  a  beautiful  waxen 
doll,  with  eyes  that  would  open  and  shut,  and  a 
handsome  cradle  to  put  it  in.  The  other  was  a 
portable  desk,  to  hold  writing  materials,  —  such 
as  paper,  pens,  an  inkstand,  wafers,  sealing-wax, 
&c.  There  was  also  room  in  it  to  keep  her  notes 
and  papers,  and  any  valuable  treasures  which  she 
might  have.  She  asked  her  mother  which  she 
thought  she  had  better  take ;  and  her  mother  said 
that  she  thought  the  doll  would  give  her  the  most 
pleasure  for  a  few  days. 


THE    RIDE    TO    TOWN.  71 

*' { And  after  that,  would  the  desk  give  me-  most 
pleasure  ? '  asked  Harriet. 

"  c  Yes,'  said  her  mother,  — '  because  your  time 
for  playing  with  dolls  has  nearly  gone  by.  You 
will  feel  less  and  less  interest  in  them  now  every 
year,  —  and  the  interest  will  soon  be  gone  entirely. 
But  your  interest  in  writing  and  in  other  intellec- 
tual pleasures,  will  increase  every  year.  So  that 
I  would  recommend  to  you  to  buy  the  desk.  If 
you  were  three  years  old  instead  of  twelve,  per- 
haps I  should  recommend  to  you  to  buy  the  doll ; 
but  for  you  to  buy  it  now,  would  be  like  a  man's 
buying  a  trunk  at  the  end  of  his  journey.'  " 

ff  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  what  did  Harriet 
do?" 

"  O,  she  bought  the  desk,  and  she  liked  it  bet- 
ter and  better  every  year.  She  used  to  write 
notes,  and  a  journal  upon  it ;  and  she  kept  the 
notes  which  the  other  girls  wrote  to  her,  and  her 
journal  books,  and  her  drawings,  and  her  pencils, 
and  all  her  treasures,  in  it.  Thus  she  bought 
something  that  she  was  growing  up  to." 

Lucy  determined  to  follow  Miss  Anne's  advice ; 
but  she  had  not  time  to  hear  any  more,  for  reiy 
soon  after  this  they  reached  the  town. 


72 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    GIPSY   PARTY. 

One  Wednesday  evening,  in  summer,  Royal  and 
Lucy  were  sitting  on  the  front  door  steps,  eating 
bread  and  milk,  which  their  mother  had  given 
them  for  supper,  when  they  saw  a  boy  coming 
along  the  road,  with  a  little  letter  in  his  hand. 

"  There  comes  a  boy  with  a  letter,"  said  Royal. 
"  I  wonder  whether  he  is  going  to  bring  it  here 
for  my  father." 

The  boy  walked  along,  and,  when  he  reached 
the  front  gate,  he  opened  it,  came  up,  and  handed 
the  note  to  Royal.  "  There's  a  letter  for  you." 
Then  he  turned  round,  and  went  away  again. 

Royal  looked  at  the  outside  of  the  note,  and 
saw  that  his  own  name  and  Lucy's  were  written 
there.  He  accordingly  opened  it,  and  read  as 
follows  :  — ■ 

"  Mary  Jay  sends  her  compliments  to  Royal  and 
Lucy,  and  would  be  happy  to  have  their  company 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  73 

at  a  gypsy  party,  at  her  house,  to-morrow,  at  3 
o'clock. 

"  Wednesday  Morning." 

"  A  g}Tsy  Party  •  I  wonder  what  a  gypsy 
party  is,"  said  Lucy. 

"  It  is  a  party  to  have  a  supper  out  of  doors,'5 
said  Royal.  "  We'll  go,  Lucy  ;  we'll  certainly  go. 
I  should  like  to  see  a  gypsy  supper." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  if  mother  will  let  us.  I'll 
go  directly  and  ask  her." 

Lucy  went  and  showed  her  note  to  her  mother. 
Her  mother  seemed  much  pleased  with  it,  and  she 
said  that  Lucy  might  go. 

"  And  Royal  too?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  —  yes,"  said  her  mother,  with  some 
hesitation.  "  I  suppose  that  I  must  let  Royal  go, 
since  he  is  invited ;  but  it  is  rather  dangerous  to 
admit  boys  to  such  parties." 

"  Why,  mother  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"Because,"  replied  her  mother,  "boys  are 
more  rough  in  their  plays  than  girls,  and  they 
are  very  apt  to  be  rude  and  noisy." 

Lucy  went  back  to  the  door,  and  told  Royal 
that  their  mother  said  that  they  might  go. 

"  But  she  thinks,"  added  Lucy,  "  that  perhaps 
you  will  be  noisy." 
7 


74  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

"  O  no,"  said  Royal,  "  I  will  be  as  still  as  a 
mouse." 

Just  then,  Royal  and  Lucy  saw  a  little  girl, 
dressed  very  neatly,  walking  along  towards  their 
house.  As  she  came  nearer,  Lucy  saw  it  was 
Marielle,  her  old  playmate  at  the  school  where 
Lucy  first  became  acquainted  with  Mary  Jay. 
Marielle  advanced  towards  the  house,  looking  at 
Lucy  with  a  very  pleasant  smile.  Royal  went 
and  opened  the  gate  for  her. 

"  How  do  you  do,  Lucy  ?  "  said  Marielle. 

Lucy  did  not  answer,  but  looked  at  Marielle 
with  an  expression  of  satisfaction  and  pleasure 
upon  her  countenance. 

"Are  you  going  to  Mary  Jay's  gypsy  party 
to-morrow  ? "  she  asked. 

"  Yes,  and  Royal  too,"  replied  Lucy.  "  Are 
you  going?  " 

"  Yes,  I  am  going,  and  Harriet,  and  Jane,  and 
Laura  Jones,  and  little  Charlotte,  and  one  or  two 
others.  My  brother  is  going,  too,  and  William 
Jones.  And  we  are  all  going  to  carry  something 
in  baskets  to  eat." 

"  Why,  what  is  that  for  ? "  asked  Royal. 

"  Why,  you  see,"  she  replied,  "  Mary  Jay  is 
going  away  in  two  or  three  days,  and  is  not  com- 
ing back  for  a  year ;  and  so  she  invited  us  to 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  75 

come  and  pay  her  a  farewell  visit,  —  all  of  us  that 
she  used  to  teach  in  the  school.  And  my  mother 
thought  that,  as  she  was  going  away  so  soon,  she 
must  be  very  busy  ;  and  so  she  sent  me  to  go  and 
ask  her  not  to  make  any  preparation  herself,  but 
to  let  us  all  bring  things  in  our  baskets ;  and  then 
she  could  put  them  on  the  table  and  arrange  them 
after  we  got  there." 

"  And  what  did  she  say  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  she  laughed,  and  said  it  was  a  funny 
way  to  give  a  party,  to  have  the  guests  bring 
their  suppers  with  them.  But,  then,  pretty  soon 
she  said  that  we  might  do  so ;  and  she  told  me  to 
say  to  my  mother  that  she  was  very  much  obliged 
to  her  indeed." 

"Well,"  said  Royal,  "let's  go  in  and  tell 
mother  about  it." 

So  the  children  went  in  and  told  their  mother, 
and  she  said  that  she  thought  it  was  an  excellent 
plan,  and  that  she  would  give  them  a  pie  and 
some  cake,  and  a  good  bottle  of  milk,  for  their 
share. 

"  My  mother,"  said  Marielle,  "  wanted  me  to 
ask  you  not  to  send  a  great  deal." 

:i  Well,  that  will  not  be  sending  a  great  deal  j 
besides,  what  would  be  the  harm  if  I  should  ?  " 


76  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

"  Why,  she  says  that  generally,  in  such  cases, 
they  carry  too  much." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal's  father,  who  was  then  sit- 
ting in  the  room  reading.  "  When  people  form  a 
party  to  go  up  a  mountain,  they  each  generally 
take  provisions  enough  for  themselves  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  party  besides ;  so  that  they  have  to 
lug  it  all  up  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  and  then 
to  lug  it  down  again." 

They  all  laughed  at  this ;  and  Royal's  father 
went  on  with  his  reading.  His  mother  then  said 
that  she  would  not  send  a  great  deal,  and  Marielle 
bade  Lucy  and  Royal  good  evening,  and  went 
home.  The  next  day,  at  three  o'clock,  there  were 
quite  a  number  of  children  walking  along  the  road 
towards  Mary  Jay's  house,  all  with  small  baskets 
in  their  hands. 

Royal,  Lucy,  and  Marielle,  went  together ;  and, 
as  they  reached  the  house,  they  found  a  boy  in 
the  yard,  who  told  them  that  Mary  Jay  was  at 
her  seat  down  beyond  the  garden.  So  they  went 
through  the  garden,  and  thence  over  into  the  walk 
which  led  down  through  the  trees,  as  described  in 
Lucy  At  Study. 

As  they  drew  near  the  place  where  they  were 
to  come  in  sight  of  the  little  pond  of  water,  they 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  79 

heard  the  sound  of  voices  ;  and,  after  a  few  steps 
more,  they  caught  a  glimpse  of  something  white 
through  the  trees.  They  walked  on,  and  pres- 
ently they  came  in  sight  of  a  pretty  long  table, 
just  beyond  the  pond,  upon  a  flat  piece  of  grass 
ground,  up  a  little  from  the  pond,  and  under  the 
trees.  The  table  was  surrounded  with  girls  mov- 
ing about  in  all  directions.  Some  were  opening 
their  baskets,  some  were  hanging  up  their  bonnets 
upon  the  branches  of  the  trees,  and  several  were 
standing  around  Mary  Jay,  who  was  seated  at 
the  head  of  the  table,  upon  a  chair,  with  her  feet 
upon  a  small  cricket,  and  a  crutch  lying  down  by 
her  side. 

"  O,  there  they  are,"  said  Lucy,  as  soon  as  she 
saw  them;  and  she  began  to  run.  Royal  fol- 
lowed, carrying  the  provisions. 

"  Ah,  Royal,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I  am  glad  you 
have  come ;  for  I  want  you  to  help  William  make 
us  a  fireplace  to  roast  our  apples  and  corn.  It 
would  not  be  a  gypsy  supper  without  some  cook- 
ing." 

"A  fireplace?"  said  Royal;  "I  don't  know 
how  to  make  a  fireplace." 

"  O,  it  is  only  a  gypsy  fireplace,"  replied  Mary 
Jay ;  "  and  that  is  very  easy  to  make.     All  you 


80  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

have  to  do  is  to  cut  two  crotched  sticks,  and  drive 
them  down  into  the  ground,  about  as  far  apart  as 
you  can  reach  ;  and  then  cut  a  green  pole,  and 
lay  across  from  one  to  the  other.  Then  we  can 
build  our  fire  upon  one  side,  and  stand  up  our 
ears  of  corn  against  the  pole,  on  the  other ;  and 
so  they  will  roast.     Only  we  must  turn  them." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal ;  "  but  where  shall  I  get 
an  axe  ?  " 

"  You  will  have  to  go  up  to  the  house  and  get 
the  axe.  You  will  find  one  in  the  shed,  just  be- 
yond the  water  post." 

So  Royal  and  William  went  off  after  the  axe, 
while  the  girls  were  all  busy,  some  about  the 
table,  taking  out  the  various  stores  and  arranging 
them ;  others  rambling  about  in  the  paths  around, 
looking  at  Mary  Jay's  stone  seat,  or  playing  with 
the  pebble-stones  on  the  margin  of  the  water. 

In  a  short  time,  Royal  returned;  and  he  and 
William  began  to  look  around,  among  the  small 
trees,  for  two  with  branches  which  would  form  a 
crotch. 

u  Here  is  one,  Royal,"  said  a  gentle  voice,  at  a 
little  distance  through  the  trees. 

Royal  turned,  and  saw  that  Marielle  had  found 
one  for  him.     He  went  to  it,  to  look  at  it.     * 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  81 

"Will  that  do?"  said  she. 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  Royal ;  "  it  is  a  beautiful 
crotch." 

In  fact,  it  did  look  very  beautiful  and  regular. 
The  two  branches  diverged  equally  from  the  main 
stem  below,  so  as  to  give  the  fork  a  very  symmet- 
rical form.  Royal  cut  it  down.  Then  he  cut 
off  the  main  stem  about  a  foot  from  the  crotch, 
and  then  the  two  branches  a  few  inches  above. 
He  carried  it  to  Mary  Jay,  to  show  her  what  a 
beautiful  crotch  he  had  got,  for  one. 

"  And  now,"  said  he,  "  where  shall  we  make 
our  fireplace  ?  " 

"  O,  any  where  about  here,  where  there  is  a 
level  place ;  you  and  William  can  find  a  place. 
Marielle  may  help  you." 

So  they  began  to  look  about  for  a  place.  They 
found  a  very  good  place  near  the  brook,  and  not 
very  far  from  the  table.  Royal  began  to  drive 
down  the  crotch.  But  here  he  soon  found  diffi- 
culty. The  two  branches  of  the  fork  diverged 
equally  from  the  main  stem,  and  of  course,  when 
the  point  was  set  into  the  ground,  neither  of  them 
was  directly  over  it ;  so  that,  when  Royal  struck 
upon  one  of  them,  the  tendency  of  the  blow  was 
to  beat  the  stake  over  upon  one  side,  and  if  he 


82 


LUCY    AT    PLAY. 


struck  upon  the  other  branch,  it  beat  it  over  upon 
the  other  side.     In  a  word,  it  would  not  drive. 

"  Strike  right  in  the  middle  of  the  crotch,"  said 
William. 

Royal  did  so.  This  seemed  to  do  better  at 
first ;  but  the  axe  did  not  strike  fair,  as  the  head  of 
it,  in  this  case,  went  down  into  the  wedge-shaped 
cavity  between  the  branches,  instead  of  finding 
any  solid  resistance  to  fall  upon.  And  after  a 
few  blows,  the  branches  were  split  asunder  by  the 
force  of  the  axe  wedging  itself  between  them ; 
and  there  was,  of  course,  an  end  of  the  business. 

"  O  dear  me ! "  said  Royal,  with  a  long  sigh, 
as  he  stopped  from  his  work,  and  leaned  upon 
his  axe. 

As  he  looked  up,  he  saw  an  old  man,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  brook,  with  a  sickle  in  his  hand, 
who  had  been  down  in  a  field  at  his  work,  and 
who  was  now  returning.  He  bad  seen  Royal 
driving  the  stake  as  he  was  passing  along. 

"  The  trouble  is,  boy,"  said  the  old  man,  "  that 
you  have  not  got  the  right  sort  of  crotch.  The 
arms  of  it  branch  off  both  sides." 

"  I  thought  it  was  better  for  that,"  said  Royal. 

"  No,"  said  the  man  ;  "  it  looks  better,  perhaps, 
but  it  won't  drive.     Get  one  where  the  main  stem 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  83 

grows  up  straight,  and  the  crotch  is  made  by  a 
branch  which  grows  out  all  on  one  side.  Then 
you  can  drive  on  the  top  of  the  main  stem." 

"  O  yes,"  said  Royal,  "  I  see." 

"  Besides,"  said  the  old  man,  "  if  that  is  the 
place  that  you  have  chosen  for  your  fire,  I  don't 
think  that  it  is  a  very  good  one." 

"  Why  not  ?  "  said  Royal. 

"  Why,  the  smoke,"  replied  the  old  man,  "  will 
drift  right  down  upon  the  tables.  It  is  generally 
best  to  make  smokes  to  leeward." 

So  saying,  the  old  man  turned  around,  and 
walked  slowly  away. 

"  What  does  he  mean  by  making  smokes  to 
leeward  ?  asked  a  little  girl  who  was  standing 
near.     It  was  Charlotte. 

"I  know,"  said  Royal;  "let  us  see,  —  which 
way  is  the  wind  ?  "  And  he  began  to  look  around 
upon  the  trees,  to  see  which  way  the  wind  was 
blowing. 

"Yes,  I  see,"  he  added.  "It  blows  from  here 
directly  towards  the  table;  we  should  have 
smoked  them  all  out.  We  must  go  around  to  the 
other  side  of  the  brook,  and  then  the  smoke  will 
be  blown  away.  But  first  we  must  go,  William, 
and  get  some  more  crotched  stakes." 

So  Royal  and  William  went  looking  about  after 


84  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

more  stakes.  They  tried  to  find  them  of  such  a 
character  as  the  old  man  had  described  ;  and  this 
was  easy ;  for  it  was  much  more  common  for  a 
single  branch  to  grow  off  upon  one  side,  leaving 
the  main  stem  to  go  up  straight,  than  for  such  a 
fork  to  be  produced  as  Marielle  had  found.  Ma- 
rielle  seemed  to  be  sorry  that  her  fork  had  proved 
so  unsuitable ;  but  Royal  told  her  that  it  was  no 
matter.  He  said  that  hers  was  a  great  deal 
handsomer  than  the  others,  at  any  rate,  although 
it  would  not  drive. 

They  found  suitable  crotches  very  easily,  and 
drove  them  into  the  ground.  Then  they  cut  a 
pole,  and  laid  it  across,  and  afterwards  built  a  fire 
upon  one  side  of  it ;  and  by  the  time  that  the 
other  preparations  were  ready  for  their  supper, 
they  had  a  good  hot  fire,  and  were  ready  to  put 
the  ears  of  corn  down  to  roast. 

The  children  had  a  very  fine  time  eating  their 
supper.  Some  stood  at  the  table  ;  and  some  car- 
ried their  cakes  and  their  blueberries  away,  and  sat, 
two  or  three  together,  under  the  trees,  or  on  the 
rocks.  Lucy  went  to  Mary  Jay's  seat,  and  took 
possession  of  that.  They  made  little  conical  cups 
of  large  maple  leaves,  which  they  formed  by  bring- 
ing the  two  wings  of  the  leaf  together  and  pinning 
them ;  and  then  the  stem  served  as  a  little  handle 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  85 

below.  They  were  large  enough  to  hold  two  or 
three  spoonfuls  of  blueberries. 

They  had  milk  to  drink  too,  and  water,  which 
they  got  from  a  spring  not  far  from  Mary  Jay's 
seat.  Lucy  went  there  to  get  some  water ;  and, 
as  she  was  coming  back  to  her  seat,  bringing  it 
carefully,  she  saw  Royal  doing  something  on  the 
shore  of  the  little  pond.  She  put  down  her  mug, 
and  went  to  see. 

He  was  making  a  vessel  of  a  small  piece  of 
board.  He  had  a  large  leaf  fastened  up  for  a  sail. 
He  secured  the  leaf,  by  making  a  slender  mast, 
and  running  this  mast  through  the  leaf,  in  and  out, 
as  you  do  with  a  needle  in  sewing ;  and  then, 
leaving  the  leaf  upon  the  mast,  he  stuck  the  end 
of  the  mast  into  the  board.  Then  he  loaded  his 
vessel  with  a  cake,  and  some  blueberries,  and  said 
that  he  was  going  to  send  it  over  to  the  other  side, 
to  Charlotte,  who  was  waiting  there  to  receive  it. 
The  children  all  gathered  around  to  see"  it  sail. 
It  went  across  very  beautifully,  and  Charlotte  ate 
the  cargo. 

Then  they  brought  the  ship  round  back  again, 
to  load  it  again ;  and  at  this  time,  when  it  was 
nearly  loaded  with  other  things,  Marielle  brought 
the  saucer  of  an  acorn  which  she  had  gathered 
from  a  neighboring  tree,  and  filled  it  with  milk, 
8 


GO  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

and  then  set  it  carefully  upon  the  stern  of  the 
vessel.  She  said  that  she  wanted  Charlotte  to 
have  something  to  drink.  But  just  before  they 
got  ready  to  sail  the  vessel,  they  heard  a  little  bell 
ring  at  the  table,  which  they  all  understood  at 
once  to  be  a  summons  from  Mary  Jay  to  them  to 
go  there,  and  attend  to  what  she  had  to  say  to 
them. 

So  those  who  were  at  the  water  left  it  at  once, 
and  the  others  came  in  from  the  places  where 
they  were  playing ;  and  all  gathered  around  the 
table. 

"  Now,  children,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  we'll  clear 
away  the  table,  and  then  you  will  have  an  hour 
and  a  half  to  play  before  it  will  be  time  to  go 
home.  First,  put  all  the  fragments  carefully  into 
the  large  basket  under  the  table." 

The  children  looked  under  the  table,  and  saw  a 
good-sized  basket  there;  and  they  took  all  that 
was  left  upon  the  table,  and  put  it  carefully  in. 
Then  Mary  Jay  told  them  to  fold  up  the  cloth, 
and  put  that  in ;  and  they  did  it.  Then  William 
and  Royal  took  the  board  which  formed  the  table, 
and  carried  it  up  towards  the  house,  and  stood  it 
up  by  the  stile  at  the  foot  of  the  garden  ;  the  other 
children  carried  the  basket  which  was  under  the 
table,  and  the  cloth,  and  all  the  other  baskets,  and 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  87 

put  them  down,  in  regular  order,  near  the  same 
place.  When  the  children  came  back,  they  found 
that  Mary  Jay  had  moved  to  her  stone  seat,  where 
she  sat  waiting  for  them. 

"Now,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "the  things  are  all 
ready  to  be  carried  home,  and  the  ground  is  clear 
for  our  plays." 

"  What  shall  we  play  ?  "  said  several  voices. 

"  We'll  see  presently,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  when 
you  get  ready." 

So  the  children  all  collected  around  Mary  Jay, 
some  standing  and  some  sitting  in  various  places, 
upon  the  flat  stones. 

"  Now,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  how  many  are  there 
here?  One,  two,  three,"  —  and  so  she  went  on 
counting  until  she  ascertained  the  number.  There 
were  ten. 

"  There  are  ten ;  that  will  be  abo\it  eight 
minutes  apiece.  Each  of  you  may  choose  a  play 
for  eight  minutes.  First  you  may  mention  any 
plays  that  you  would  like,  —  so  that  you  may  all 
have  a  good  number  in  mind  to  choose  from." 

One  of  the  girls  said,  "Blind  man's  buff;" 
another,  "  A  march  ;"  another,  "  Hunt  the  stag ;  " 
and  several  other  plays  were  named. 

"  Now,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I  will  call  upon  one 


88  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

of  the  oldest  children  to  choose  a  play.  Laura, 
what  should  you  like  for  your  eight  minutes  ? " 

"  A  march,"  said  Laura. 

"  Yes,"  said  all  the  children,  "  let's  have  a 
march." 

"  Would  any  of  the  rest  of  you,"  said  Mary 
Jay,  "like  to  have  your  eight  minutes  added  to 
Laura's  ?  and  that  will  make  sixteen  minutes  for 
a  march." 

"  Yes,  I,"  and  "  I,"  said  several  voices. 

"But  then  you  must  remember,"  said  Mary 
Jay,  "  that  whoever  gives  up  her  eight  minutes  to 
a  march,  cannot  choose  any  other  play  for  it." 

"O,  well,  then  I  don't  want  to  give  mine," 
said  one  of  the  girls,  "  for  I  want  to  have  Blind- 
man's-buff  for  mine." 

However,  there  was  one ,  of  the  girls  who  de- 
cided to^dd  her  eight  minutes  to  Laura's  for  the 
march  ;  and  so,  at  Mary  Jay's  command,  they  all 
formed  a  line,  and  marched  about  under  the  trees 
for  quarter  of  an  hour.  Mary  Jay  appointed 
Royal  to  be  the  captain  ;  and  so  they  all  followed 
him  around  and  under  the  trees,  singing  a  merry 
song  all  the  way.  They  had  branches  of  the 
trees  for  banners. 

When  the  march  was  over,  Mary  Jay  called 
for  more  plays,  and  they  played  three  more  times, 


THE    GYPSY    PARTY.  89 

about  eight  minutes  each,  as  near  as  Mary  Jay 
could  estimate  the  time. 

"  But,  Mary  Jay,"  said  Royal,  "  you  have 
passed  by  Mariello;  and  she  is  older  than  the 
others  that  you  have  called  upon." 

"  So  I  have,"  said  Mary  Jay.  "  Marielle,  I  did 
not  mean  to  forget  you." 

"  O,  it's  no  matter,"  said  Marielle. 

"  Well,  what  play  should  you  like  ?  You  shall 
take  your  turn  now." 

"  Cannot  we  choose  any  thing  besides  plays  ?  " 
asked  Marielle. 

"  Why,  yes,"  replied  Mary  Jay,  "  perhaps  so  ; 
I'll  see.     What  should  you  like  ?  " 

Marielle  looked  down,  and  appeared  half  afraid 
to  say  what  she  wished  ;  but  presently  she  said,  — 

"  Why,  if  you  would  be  kind  enough  to  read  us 
a  story  out  of  your  Morocco  Book." 

"  O  yes,"  "  Yes,"  exclaimed  all  the  children, 
"  let  us  have  a  story  out  of  the  Morocco  Book." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Mary  Jay  ;  "  I  have  no  ob- 
jection. I  can  find  a  short  one,  which  will  not 
take  more  than  eight  minutes." 

But  the  children  did  not  want  a  short  one ; 
and  those  who  had  not  chosen  plays  agreed  to 
appropriate  all  their  time  to  the  Morocco  Book. 
8* 


90 


CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  MOROCCO  BOOK. 

Mary  Jay  accordingly  sent  up  two  of  the  chil- 
dren after  the  Morocco  Book.  She  told  them  that 
her  sister  would  give  it  to  them.  They  knocked 
at  the  door  of  the  house,  and,  when  Mary  Jay's 
sister  came  to  the  door,  they  told  her  what  they 
wanted.  Then  her  sister  went  in,  and  presently 
came  back,  and  brought  the  Morocco  Book,  which 
she  had  wrapped  up  carefully  in  a  newspaper; 
for  she  knew  that  Mary  Jay  was  very  careful  of 
the  Morocco  Book. 

When  the  messengers  had  returned  to  where 
the  children  were  assembled,  Mary  Jay  took  off 
the  newspaper,  and  brought  the  handsome  Mo- 
rocco Book  to  view.  She  looked  at  the  index  a 
few  minutes,  and  then  turned  to  a  place  at  about 
the  middle  of  the  book,  and  read  the  following 
storv . . — 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.    .  91 


THE  LONELY  SLEIGH-RIDE. 

Once  there- was  a  farmer  who  lived  in  a  solitary 
place  near  the  bank  of  a  river,  and  he  had  a  little 
daughter  named  Jane.  They  commonly  called 
her  Jenny. 

There  was  a  small  village  about  two  miles  off, 
up  the  river,  though  upon  the  other  side.  At  the 
village  there  was  a  mill,  and  very  near  the  mill, 
on  the  other  side  of  it,  was  a  house  where  the 
miller  lived.  One  evening  in  winter,  when  the 
moon  was  shining  bright,  the  farmer  concluded  to 
go  to  mill  in  his  sleigh.  Jenny  wanted  to  go 
with  him  for  the  ride ;  and  he  said  that  she  might 
go.  It  was  a  very  pleasant  ride  along  the  banks 
of  the  river  from  the  farm  to  the  mill.  When  the 
river  was  frozen  over,  they  generally  went  upon 
the  ice.  The  road  upon  the  ice  was  very  pleas- 
ant to  travel,  though  it  was  rather  bad  getting 
off  and  on,  for  there  was  generally  a  wet  place 
along  the  shore. 

The  farmer  was  going  to  carry  a  bag  of  wheat  to 
the  mill,  to  be  ground.  The  meal  was  to  be  put 
into  the  same  bag  again  ;  but  then  he  wanted  an- 
other bag  to  put  the  bran  into.  Jenny  wanted  the 
bran  to  feed  her  chickens  with.     So  the  farmer 


92         .    »  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

brought  out  a  spare  bag,  and  laid  it  upon  the  step 
of  the  door,  while  he  went  to  bring  the  horse  and 
sleigh  out  of  the  barn. 

Jenny  followed  her  father  to  the  barn,  and  got 
into  the  sleigh  there.  Her  father  stepped  in,  too, 
after  her,  and  took  his  seat.  But  he  had  to  get 
out  again  to  adjust  some  part  of  the  harness,  which 
was  out  of  order.  While  adjusting  the  harness,  he 
got  engaged  in  talking  with  Jenny,  and,  when  he 
was  ready  to  set  out,  he  had  entirely  forgotten 
about  his  spare  bag ;  and  so  he  drove  by,  and  left 
it  upon  the  great,  flat  stone  which  formed  the  step 
of  the  door. 

It  was  a  bright  moonlight  evening,  and  the 
farmer  drove  on  over  the  beautiful  white  road 
very  fast.  Presently  he  came  to  the  place  where 
he  was  accustomed  to  turn  off  to  go  down  upon 
the  river. 

"  Are  you  going  on  the  river  ?  "  said  Jenny. 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  her  father ;  "  wouldn't  you  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Jenny,  "  perhaps ;  only  I'm  a 
little  afraid  to  go  through  the  water  at  the  edge." 

"  O,  that  will  do  no  harm,"  replied  her  father ; 
"the  water  is  not  deep."  So  her  father  drove 
down  through  the  water,  over  on  to  the  ice,  and 
then  turned  up  the  river,  and  the  horse  trotted 
swiftly  on. 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.  93 

As  they  rode  on,  Jenny  and  her  father  happened 
to  fall  into  conversation  on  the  way  to  act  when 
in  circumstances  of  sudden  danger. 

"  Always  take  time,  Jenny,  in  such  cases,"  said 
her  father,  "  to  consider  well  what  you  had  better 
do,  before  you  begin  to  do  it." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Jenny,  "  suppose  there  is 
not  any  time." 

"  Why,  then,"  replied  her  father,  "  of  course 
you  cannot  do  any  thing." 

"  But  I  mean,  father,  suppose  there  is  only  a 
very  little  time  —  not  enough  to  think  in." 

"  Why,  if  there  is  ever  so  little  time,"  said  her 
father  in  reply,  "  it  would  be  better  to  use  a  part 
of  it  in  considering.  If  the  house  is  on  foe,  the 
first  thing  is  to  consider  well  what  to  do." 

"  Why,  I  should  run  and  cry  fire,"  said  Jenny. 

"  But  that  might  not  be  best,"  said  her  father. 
"  You  might  be  in  such  a  place  that  nobody  would 
hear  you,  if  you  did  cry  fire.  Or,  if  you  should 
examine  the  fire,  you  might  find  that  you  could 
put  it  out  yourself,  very  easily,  with  a  pail  of 
water ;  and  in  that  case  it  would  not  be  wise  to 
alarm  the  people  out  of  doors." 

"  Then,"  said  Jenny,  "  the  first  thing  I  should 
do  would  be  to  run  and  get  a  pail  of  water." 

?'  That  might  not  be  best,"  said  her  father ;  "  for 


94  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

perhaps  the  fire  would  have  advanced  so  far  that, 
you  could  not  hope  to  put  it  out ;  and  so  it  might 
be  wisest  for  you  to  go  get  some  valuable  papers 
and  carry  out,  or  a  child  asleep  in  a  cradle. 

"So  you  see,"  continued  her  father,  "  the  best 
thing  that  you  could  do  would  be  to  pause  and 
consider  what  to  do.  I  heard  a  doctor  say  once 
that,  if  he  had  but  five  minutes  to  save  a  man's  life 
in,  he  should  take  two  of  them  to  consider  what 
to  do." 

Jenny  wanted  to  drive  a  little.  The  horse  was  a 
very  spirited,  but  yet  a  very  kind  and  gentle  horse, 
so  that  her  father  often  used  to  let  Jenny  drive 
him.  But  it  was  rather  cold  this  evening;  and 
her  father  told  her  that  he  thought  it  would  be 
better  for  her  to  sit  still  and  keep  her  fingers  warm. 

When  they  arrived  at  the  village,  they  drove 
up  near  to  a  post  which  stood  between  the  house 
and  the  mill.  The  miller  came  to  help  the  farmer 
take  out  the  bag  of  wheat.  And  he  said  to  the 
farmer,  "  You  had  better  let  your  little  girl  go  into 
the  house  and  stay  there  while  we  are  grinding." 

"  O  no,"  replied  the  farmer ;  "  she  can  go  into 
the  mill  with  us,  just  as  well.  She  will  like  to 
walk  about  in  the  mill  a  little." 

So  the  farmer  folded  up  the  reins,  and  put  them 
through  a  ring  in  the  harness,  in  such  a  way  that 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.  95 

they  hung  safely  down  the  horse's  shoulder  ;  and 
he  was  then  going  to  fasten  the  horse.  He  hung 
up  the  reins  in  that  manner  so  as  to  prevent  their 
getting  down  under  the  horse's  feet.  Just  before 
he  fastened  the  horse,  however,  he  observed  that 
the  miller  was  ready  to  help  him  carry  in  the  bag 
of  wheat.  So  he  took  hold  of  one  end,  while  the 
miller  took  hold  of  another,  in  order  to  carry  it 
along  through  a  passage-way  on  that  side  which 
led  into  the  mill. 

"I  think,"  said  the  miller,  "that  your  little 
girl  had  better  go  into  the  house.  Yes,  here 
comes  John,  and  he  will  take  your  horse  round 
into  my  shed,  and  show  Jenny  in." 

John  was  a  boy  who  was  just  then  coming 
along  with  a  pail  of  water.  He  heard  what  his 
father  said,  and  he  answered. 

"Yes,  father,"  said  he;  "as  soon  as  I  have 
carried  in  this  pail  of  water,  I  will  come  out  and 
do  it." 

"  O,  that  is  not  necessary,"  said  Jenny's  father ; 
"  there  is  a  shed  around  on  the  other  side  of  the 
mill,  I  will  come  and  put  the  horse  there,  and  let 
Jenny  go  in  with  us." 

So  the  boy  went  in  with  his  pail  of  water,  and 
the  miller  and  the  farmer  carried  the  bag  of  wheat 
along  the  passage-way.     When  they  had  gone, 


96  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

Jenny  thought  she  would  step  into  the  sleigh 
again,  so  as  to  be  all  ready  to  go  whichever  way 
it  was  decided  to  carry  her. 

Now,  the  horse  perceived  that  somebody  got 
into  the  sleigh,  and  he  very  naturally  supposed 
that  he  was  to  set  out  again,  and  carry  them  where 
they  wanted  to  go ;  and  so  he  began  to  turn 
around  out  towards  the  road. 

"  Whoa  !  whoa  !  "  said  Jenny. 

But  the  reins  were  hung  up  upon  the  harness 
out  of  Jenny's  reach  ;  and  so,  as  the  horse  felt  no 
pressure  of  restraint  upon  the  bit,  he  paid  no  at- 
tention to  the  order,  but  moved  on  out  into  the 
street.  The  weather  being  cold,  all  the  doors 
were  shut  in  the  mill  and  in  the  house,  and  nobody 
heard  the  sound  of  the  bells,  nor  Jenny's  calls  to 
the  horse ;  and,  in  a  word,  before  Jenny  had  time 
to  consider  her  situation,  the  horse  was  out  in  the 
street  trotting  off  at  a  good  round  pace  down  to- 
wards a  bridge  which  passed  over  a  small  stream 
just  below  the  mill,  and  which  was  on  the  way 
towards  home. 

In  the  mean  time,  Jenny's  father,  after  helping 
the  miller  about  getting  the  grain  into  the  mill,  and 
pouring  it  into  the  hopper,  came  back  for  Jenny. 
When  he  saw  that  the  sleigh  was  gone,  he  said,  — 

"Ah,  John  has  taken  hei   into  the  house,  I 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.  97 

see.  Well,  he  was  pretty  quick  about  it."  So 
he  went  back  into  the  mill. 

In  the  same  way,  John,  when  he  had  carried 
in  his  pail  of  water,  came  back  to  look  for  Jenny 
and  the  sleigh.  When  he  saw  that  they  were 
gone,  he  said, — 

"  Ah,  they  have  taken  her  into  the  mill,  I 
see.  Well,  they  were  pretty  quick  about  it." 
So  he  went  back  into  the  house. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  horse  trotted  on.  Jenny's 
first  thought  was  to  jump  out  at  once.  But  the 
horse  was  coming  fast  down  the  hill  to  the  bridge, 
and  that  made  her  afraid  to  jump  out  there ;  for 
she  thought  that,  if  she  should  fall  down  upon  the 
hard  planks,  it  would  hurt  her  more  than  to  fall 
upon  the  snow.  So  she  concluded  to  wait  until 
she  should  have  got  over  the  bridge. 

But  now,  as  she  was  passing  the  bridge,  she 
recollected  what  her  father  had  told  her  about 
always  stopping  to  consider  what  it  was  best  to 
do  when  she  was  placed  in  any  dangerous  situa- 
tion ;  and  so  she  concluded  not  to  jump  out  at 
once,  but  to  reflect  a  little  whether  it  would  be 
best  to  jump  out  or  not. 

"If  I  jump  out,"  she  said  to  herself,  "  I  shall 
get  thrown  down,  perhaps,  and  hurt  my  head. 
And  then,  besides,  the  horse  and  sleigh  will  go 
9 


98  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

home  alone,  and  my  mother  will  think  that  my 
father  and  I  are  thrown  out  and  killed,  and  so  she 
will  he  very  much  frightened.  No,  I  had  better 
not  jump  out." 

Then  she  thought  of  another  plan.  "  I  might 
climb  along  one  of  the  shafts  towards  the  horse's 
head,  and  try  to  get  hold  of  the  reins,  and  then  I 
could  stop  him.  —  But  no,"  she  added,  "that 
will  not  do.  It  might  frighten  him,  and  make  him 
run  away  faster." 

Here  she  paused,  and  thought  a  little  more 
about  it. 

"  But,  then,"  she  said  to  herself  again,  presently, 
"  if  I  keep  in  the  sleigh,  and  the  horse  runs  against 
any  thing,  or  runs  quick  round  a  corner,  and 
turns  the  sleigh  over,  then  I  shall  be  thrown  out, 
and  shall  be  killed. 

"Ah,"  she  continued,  after  thinking  a  little 
more,  "  I  know  what  I  will  do.  I  will  get  out 
carefully  upon  the  runner,  and  step  along  till  I 
get  on  to  the  end  of  the  runner,  behind  the 
sleigh  ;  and  then,  as  long  as  the  hcse  goes  on 
right,  I  will  cling  on,  and  he  shall  carry  me  home ; 
but  when  I  see  any  difficulty  coming,  then  I  will 
jump  off." 

So  Jenny  stepped  out  very  carefully,  holding 
on  by  the  back  of  the  sleigh,  and  took  her  place 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.  99 

upon  the  end  of  the  runner,  on  one  side.  She 
went  on  so,  very  well,  for  a  short  distance,  for 
the  horse  did  not  go  very  fast.  If  she  had  been 
much  frightened,  and  had  screamed  or  called  out 
very  loud,  it  would  have  frightened  the  horse  very 
much,  and  he  would  have  soon  got  into  a  run. 
But,  as  all  was  quiet,  the  horse  supposed  that  all 
was  right,  and  so  he  trotted  along  towards  home, 
just  as  usual. 

But  then,  in  a  very  few  minutes  after  this,  he 
turned  into  the  road  which  led  down  the  bank  to 
the  river. 

"  O  dear  me !  "  said  Jenny.  "  He  will  draw 
my  feet  all  over  in  the  water.  I'll  jump  off.  — 
No,  I'll  jump  in." 

She  had  but  a  moment  to  decide  which  to  do ; 
but  she  happened  to  decide  right.  She  jumped 
in,  just  as  the  horse  was  stepping  carefully  into  the 
water  at  the  margin  of  the  river.  She  sat  down 
upon-  the  seat,  and  held  on  by  one  side  of  the 
sleigh.  The  runners  plunged  into  the  water,  and 
then,  with  a  jolt,  struck  the  edge  of  the  ice,  and 
rose  up  upon  it.  The  horse  then  began  to  trot 
again. 

"  There,"  said  Jenny,  "  I  am  safe  on  the  ice. 
Now  I  can  get  out  again  upon  the  runner." 

However,  by  this  time  Jenny  had  become  quite 


100  LUCY    AT    PLAF. 

quiet  and  composed  in  her  new  situation.  She 
found  that  the  horse  was  going  along  very  regu- 
larly, and  she  reflected  that,  as  she  had  got  out 
of  the  village,  she  had  passed  all  the  places  where 
there  were  bad  corners  to  turn,  and  also  that  it 
was  not  now  very  probable  that  she  should  meet 
any  body  coming.  So  she  concluded  to  remain 
in  the  sleigh,  especially  as  she  would  have  to  go 
through  the  water  again,  when  the  horse  went 
up  off  the  ice. 

So  she  staid  in  the  sleigh.  She  stood  up  m 
the  front  of  it,  upon  one  corner,  and  took  hold  of 
the  dasher,  in  order  that  she  might  stand  (irmly. 
In  this  way  she  rode  along.  The  horse  trotted 
very  fast,  but  the  road  was  level  and  smooth,  and 
its  direction  changed  only  by  great  curves,  which 
followed  the  bends  in  the  stream.  At  length,  the 
horse  came  to  the  place  for  going  up  upon  the 
land.  He  stopped  trotting  when  he  came  to  the 
water,  looked  down  into  it,  stepped  carefully  in, 
and  then  very  soon  took  the  sleigh  and  Jenny  out 
safe  to  the  solid  ground.  He  walked  up  the  bank, 
turned  into  the  road,  trotted  on  a  short  distance, 
and  then  wheeled  round  up  into  the  farmer's  yard. 
He  walked  along  to  the  barn  door,  and  there 
stopped  for  Jenny  to  get  out  and  unharness  him.    • 

"  Well,"  said  Jenny  to  herself,  as  she  stepped 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.  101 

out  of  the  sleigh.  "  This  is  pretty  well."  She 
looked  around  towards  the  house,  and  saw  no 
light.  So  she  knew  that  her  mother  had  gone  to 
bed  in  her  bed-room,  on  the  back  side.  The  bag 
for  the  bran  was  lying  in  the  moonlight  on  the 
step  of  the  door,  where  her  father  had  left  it. 
She  turned  around  again  to  the  horse,  and  took 
hold  of  the  reins,  which  were  hanging  like  a 
bundle  of  ribbons  from  the  horse's  shoulder. 

"  This  was  all  the  difficulty,"  she  said.  "  If  I 
had  only  had  these  reins,  I  could  have  stopped 
him.  I've  a  great  mind  now  to  get  in  again,  and 
drive  him  back.  I'll  see  if  I  can  turn  him  round, 
at  any  rate." 

So  Jenny  got  into  the  sleigh,' with  the  reins  in 
her  hands,  and  she  found  that  she  could  turn  him 
around  without  any  difficulty.  She  had  never 
driven  alone  before,  but  she  had  often  driven  when 
her  father  was  seated  in  the  sleigh  with  her,  so 
that  she  knew  very  well  how  to  guide  the  horse 
to  the  right  or  left  by  pulling  one  rein,  and  how 
to  make  him  stop  by  pulling  both ;  so  that  she 
had  no  difficulty  in  turning  him  round,  and  then 
stopping  him  before  he  went  out  into  the  road. 
Here  she  paused  to  consider. 

"  If  I  don't  go  back,"  said  she  to  herself,  "  my 
father  will  come  out  to  find  me,  and  be  afraid  I 
9* 


102  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

am  killed.  Perhaps  he  is  walking  along  home 
after  me  now.  If  I  go  in  the  house  here}  there  is 
nobody  to  drive  the  horse  back,  and  it  is  too  far 
for  my  father  to  walk.  Yes,  I  will  drive  him 
back  ;  and  then,  besides,  there  is  the  bag  upon  the 
step.  I  can  carry  my  father  his  bag,  and  so  get 
the  bran  for  my  chickens." 

The  sleigh  was  standing  very  near  the  step,  at 
this  time,  but  Jenny  drove  a  little  nearer,  so  that 
she  could  step  out  and  get  the  bag.  She  kept 
hold  of  the  reins  all  the  time,  with  one  hand. 

She  put  the  bag  into  the  bottom  of  the  sleigh, 
and  then  got  in  again  herself.  She  then  carefully 
drove  the  horse  down  out  of  the  yard  into  the 
road,  and  turned  him  in  the  direction  towards  the 
village.  When  she  came  to  the  place  for  going 
down  the  bank  to  the  river,  her  courage  failed  a 
little.  She  was  afraid  to  drive  into  the  water. 
However,  she  kept  the  reins  still,  and  held  on  as 
firmly  as  she  could,  and  the  horse  carried  her 
safely  through. 

"  Now,  pony,  you  must  go  faster,"  she  said, 
when  the  horse  was  fairly  upon  the  river.  So 
she  took  the  whip,  which  was  lying  in  the  bottom 
of  the  sleigh,  and  touched  him  veryjightly  with 
it.  The  horse  trotted  on  at  great  speed.  The 
road  passed  sometimes  out  in  the  middle  of  the 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.  103 

stream,  and  sometimes  it  curved  along  by  the 
shore,  under  a  high  bank  overhung  with  trees. 
Sometimes  she  was  in  the  moonlight,  and  some- 
times in  shadow ;  but  the  road  was  smooth  and 
true,  and  she  glided  over  it  like  a  bird. 

Presently  she  saw  something  dark  at  a  distance 
before  her.  In  a  few  minutes,  she  perceived  that 
it  was  moving.  It  was  a  horse  and  sleigh  coming 
on  towards  her. 

"  What  shall  I  do  now  ?  "  said  Jenny. 

The  first  thought  was  to  stop  the  horse,  and 
tell  the  man  who  was  in  the  sleigh  her  story,  and 
get  him  to  go  back  with  her.  But  then  she  re- 
flected that  she  was  getting  along  very  well  with- 
out any  help,  and  that  probably  the  people  in  the 
sleigh  had  a  home  of  their  own  that  they  wanted 
to  get  to,  as  well  as  she. 

"  On  the  whole,  if  I  can  only  get  by  them," 
she  said  to  herself,  "  I  will  go  directly  on." 

So  she  turned  out  well  from  the  path,  when 
she  found  that  she  was  near  them,  and  got  by 
without  any  trouble.  There  were  a  man  and  a 
woman  in  the  sleigh,  and  they  looked  up  aston- 
ished at  seeing  so  small  a  girl  driving  a  sleigh  at 
that  time  of  night,  and  on  such  a  solitary  road. 
But  then  the  two  sleighs  passed  each  other  so 


104  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

quick,  that  the  travellers  had  no  time  to  say  any 
thing  to  Jenny,  and  so  she  drove  on. 

And  it  was  rather  a  sombre  scene,  as  is  here 
represented  in  the  picture. 

"  O,  is  there  a  picture,  Mary  Jay  ? "  "  Let  us 
see  the  picture,"  said  all  the  girls.  They  came 
around  Mary  Jay,  and  looked  at  the  picture  which 
was  painted  in  the  Morocco  Book,  at  the  place 
where  Mary  Jay  was  reading.  They  stood,  some 
on  each  side  and  some  behind,  looking  over  her 
shoulder.  They  looked  at  it  a  few  minutes  in 
silence. 

There  was  a  lonely-looking  place  upon  a  river, 
the  surface  of  the  stream  being  white  with  snow. 
There  were  dark  woods  in  the  background,  hang- 
ing gloomily  over  the  shore ;  and  upon  the  fore- 
ground, too,  upon  one  side,  there  were  some  large 
rocks  and  fir-trees,  which  were  upon  the  bank 
nearest  the  spectator.  Jenny's  sleigh  was  going 
along,  the  moon  shining  upon  it  brightly ;  and 
behind  it  there  was  the  other  sleigh,  which  was 
seen  more  dimly,  as  it  was  partly  shaded  by  trees. 
Still  you  could  see  the  man's  head  turned  back, 
looking  towards  Jenny's  sleigh. 

"  How  cold  it  looks !  "  said  Marielle. 


THE    LONELY    SLEIGH-RIDE.  105 

The  rest  of  the  children  said  nothing  ;  but,  after 
they  had  looked  at  it  for  some  minutes,  silently, 
they  went  back  to  their  places,  and  Mary  Jay 
went  on. 

Jenny  met  with  no  other  adventure  on  the  ice. 
In  a  short  time,  she  came  to  the  place  where  she 
was  to  go  off  the  ice,  and  the  horse  took  her  very 
safely  through  the  water,  and  up  upon  the  shore. 

She  then  guided  him  along  towards  the  village, 
and  across  the  bridge,  and  thence  up  to  the  mill. 
Just  as  she  got  there,  she  saw  her  father  and  the 
miller  going  along  around  the  house  to  find  her. 
His  wheat  was  ground,  and  he  was  now  ready  to 
go  home.  He  supposed  that  Jenny  was  in  the 
house,  and  his  sleigh  in  the  yard.  He  heard  a 
sleigh  coming  along  behind  him ;  but,  not  ima- 
gining it  could  be  his,  he  did  not  pay  particular 
attention  to  it,  but  walked  on. 

As  soon,  however,  as  he  turned  around  the 
corner  of  the  house,  and  saw  that  his  sleidi  was 
not  there,  under  the  shed  where  he  had  expected 
to  find  it,  he  stopped,  and  exclaimed,  — 

"  What !  —  where's  my  sleigh  ? " 

"  Here  it  is,  father,"  said  Jenny,  "  and  here  is 
your  bag,  too,  for  the  bran." 

Her  father  and  the  miller  turned  around,  to- 


106  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

gether,  but  they  could  hardly  believe  their  eyes  , 
and  when  Jenny  came  to  tell  her  story,  it  was 
still  more  difficult  to  believe  their  ears.  When,  at 
length,  however,  they  understood  the  story,  her 
father  said,  — 

"  Well,  Jenny,  that's  pretty  well  —  pretty  well. 
If  you  had  not  got  the  bag  with  you  for  proof,  I 
should  think  that  you  had  got  asleep  in  the  sleigh, 
and  been  dreaming." 


Here  Mary  Jay  paused,  and  shut  the  book. 

"  Is  that  the  end  ?  "  asked  the  children. 

"  Yes,  that  is  the  end,"  replied  Mary  Jay. 

"  Well,  I  think,"  said  Laura,  "  that  Jenny  was 
a  pretty  courageous  girl." 

"  And  1  think,"  said  Royal,  "  that  she  was  a 
pretty  wise  girl." 

"  But  I  don't  think  she  did  quite  right,"  said 
Marielle,  "  to  drive  back  again  without  her  moth- 
er's leave." 

"  I  am  not  sure  of  that  myself,"  said  Mary  Jay. 
"  But  now,  girls,  it  is  time  for  you  to  go  home. 
Come,  all  of  you,  and  shake  hands  with  me,  and 
bid  me  good-by,  and  leave  me  here.  I  am 
going  away,  to  be  gone  a  long  time,  and  I  don't 
know  when  I  shall  see  you  again.  But  there  is 
one  thing  that  I  want  you  to  do  for  me.     Be 


THE    MOROCCO    BOOK.  107 

very  gentle  and  obedient,  at  home,  now,  for  three 
days;  and  they  will  think  it  is  owing  to  your 
having  paid  a  visit  to  Mary  Jay." 

"  Yes,  we  will,  Mary  Jay,"  said  the  girls  ;  "  we 
certainly  will." 

So  Mary  Jay  held  out  her  hand  to  the  girls. 
For  a  minute  or  two,  she  looked  upon  them  with  a 
smile,  as  one  after  another  came  forward  to  shake 
it ;  but  then  she  turned  her  head  away,  and,  leaning 
upon  a  round  stone  at  one  side  of  her  seat,  she 
hid  her  face  in  her  handkerchief,  which  she  held 
in  her  left  hand.  Marielle  lingered  till  the  last, 
and  then  she  kneeled  down  upon  the  step  of  the 
seat  beside  her,  kissed  her  cheek,  and  said,  in  a 
very  gentle  tone, — 

61  Good  by,  dear  Mary  Jay." 

She  then  paused,  and  looked  at  her  with  a  sad 
expression  of  countenance.  Her  dark  hair,  lying 
in  curls  upon  her  neck,  was  very  beautiful.  But 
Marielle  was  not  admiring  her  beauty ;  she  was 
pitying  her  sorrow. 


108 

CHAPTER    VII. 
MARY   JAY'S   SUNDAY    SCHOOL. 

Mary  Jay  lived  at  some  distance  from  any 
church,  and  so  it  was  very  seldom  that  she  was 
able  to  go  to  church ;  for  she  could  not  walk 
very  far.  But  it  happened  that,  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  house  where  she  lived,  there  was 
a  small  red  school-house,  at  the  edge  of  a  grove  of 
pine-trees,  on  the  bank  of  a  river ;  and  Mary  Jay 
used  to  go  there  every  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  a 
Sabbath  school  for  the  little  children  that  lived 
near. 

The  next  Sabbath  after  the  gypsy  supper,  Ma- 
ry Jay  was  going  to  close  her  school.  Marielle 
wanted  to  go  very  much  ;  and  she  proposed  to 
Lucy  that  they  sho*uld  both  ask  their  mothers  to 
allow  them  to  go,  instead  of  going  to  church. 
Lucy  said  that  she  was  willing. 

So  they  both  asked  their  mothers,  and  they  said 
yes.  Royal  wanted  to  go  too,  but  his  father 
thought  that  it  was  not  best.  So  Marielle  and 
Lucy  set  off  alone.     They  were  going  to  call  it 


MARY    JAY'S    SUNDAY    SCHOOL.  109 

Mary  Jay's  house,  a  little  before  the  time,  and  so 
walk  along  to  the  school-house  with  her. 

They  found  Mary  Jay  all  ready  for  them,  sit- 
ting in  a  chair,  upon  the  door  step.  She  had  her 
bonnet  on,  and  she  was  reading.  One  crutch 
was  leaning  against  the  post  of  tie  door.  When 
she  saw  the  two  little  girls  coming,  she  shut  her 
book,  rose,  and  took  her  crutch  uhder  her  arm. 

"  But,  Mary  Jay,"  said  Lucy,  "  where  is  your 
other  crutch  ?  " 

"  I  am  not  going  to  take  but  one,"  said  Mary 
Jay. 

"  But  you  always  used  to  have  two." 

"  I  know  it,  but  I  am  better  and  stronger  now, 
and  can  get  along  very  well  with  only  one ;  un-, 
less  I  have  to  go  a  great  way." 

"  I  am  very  glad  of  that,"  said  Marielle. 
"  And  perhaps,  by-and-by,  you  will  get  so  well 
that  you  can  go  without  any." 

".No,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "I  never  expect  to  be 
well  enough  to  walk  without  one  crutch." 

o 

"  But  perhaps  you  will,  Mary  Jay,"  said  Lucy 
—  "perhaps." 

Mary  Jay  stepped  down  from  the  step,  and 
took  hold  of  Lucy's  hand  with  that  one  of  her 
own  hands  that  was  free.  Marielle  went  upon  the 
10 


110  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

other  side,  and  carried  her  books  ;  and  thus  they 
walked  along  together  towards  the  school. 

There  was  a  short  path  through  the  fields 
which  they  took,  which  was  more  shady  than  the 
open  road.  They  had  to  get  over  some  fences  ; 
but  then  there  were  stiles  or  gaps  in  the  walls,  at 
the  crossing-places,  so  that  tliey  got  along  *vith- 
out  much  difficulty.  At  one  place  there  was  a 
gate.  Marielle  held  it  open  while  Mary  Jay  and 
Lucy  went  through.  At  length,  they  reached  the 
school-house. 

It  stood  in  a  very  pleasant  place  between  tjie 
road  and  the  river ;  on  one  side  was  a  grove  of 
trees,  and  on  the  other,  before  the  door,  was  a 
little  play-ground,  green  and  level.  From  the 
play-ground  there  was  a  path  which  led  down  to 
the  shore  of  the  river,  where  there  was  a  smooth 
beach.  The  children,  in  the  recesses  of  the 
school  on  week-days,  used  to  love  to  go  down  to 
this  beach,  and  amuse  themselves  by  throwing 
pebbles  into  the  water. 

Several  little  children  were  standing  at  the  door 
and  around  upon  the  green,  when  Mary  Jay  and 
the  other  girls  came  up.  When  they  saw  her 
coming,  they  went  in,  and  Mary  Jay  followed 
them.     There  was  a  fireplace,  but  it  was  filled 


MARY   JAY'S    SUNDAY    SCHOOL.  113 

with  evergreens,  because  it  was  summer.  Di- 
rectly before  the  fireplace  was  Mary  Jay's  table. 
Then  before  the  table  there  was  a  level  area  ex- 
lending  into  the  middle  of  the  room,  and  benches 
and  desks  around  the  four  sides. 

The  children  took  their  seats  upon  benches 
which  were  arranged  around  this  area,  next  to 
the  desks.  So  they  formed  a  sort  of  a  hollow 
square.  Mary  Jay  asked  two  of  them  to  move 
her  table  forward  a  little  way ;  and  then  she  took 
her  seat  at  it;  so  that  now  she  could  see  all  the 
children,  and  all  the  children  could  see  her.  She 
gave  Marielle  and  Lucy  seats  near  her,  on  one 
side. 

First  Mary  Jay  read  a  hymn,  and  she  and  all 
the  children  sang  it.  Then  she  opened  the  book 
which  she  had  brought  with  her,  and  read  a  prayer. 
The  children  listened  to  it  with  great  reverence 
and  attention. 

After  the  prayer  was  ended,  there  was  a  mo- 
ment's pause,  and  then  Mary  Jay  rapped  gently 
upon  the  table.  Immediately  the  room  seemed 
to  be  in  confusion.  The  children  all  arose,  and 
began  to  move  about,  passing  and  repassing  among 
each  other,  and  going  behind  the  desks,  in  appa- 
rent confusion ;  but  very  soon  they  seemed  to  be 
coming  into  order  again,  and  Marielle  and  Lucy 
10* 


114  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

saw  that  they  had  arranged  themselves  in  little 
classes,  at  the  desks. 

"  What  are  they  going  to  do  now  ? "  said  Lucy, 
in  a  low  tone,  to  Mary  Jay. 

"  They  are  going  to  say  their  lessons,"  replied 
Mary  Jay. 

"  Who  are  they  going  to  say  them  to  ? "  asked 
Lucy  again. 

"  To  the  teachers,"  replied  Mary  Jay. 

"  But  I  don't  see  any  teachers,"  rejoined  Lucy. 

Mary  Jay  smiled,  and  said,  "  The  teachers  are 
not  very  big."  By  this  time  the  room  was  all  in 
a  buzz.  The  children  were  all  saying  their  les- 
sons. The  lessons  were  very  short  —  only  two 
short  verses ;  but  then  all  the  teachers  had  to 
hear  each  member  of  her  class  repeat  them,  and 
so  it  took  some  time. 

"  I  suppose  they  learned  their  lessons  at  home," 
said  Marielle. 

"  No,"  replied  Mary  Jay  ;  "  they  learned  them 
here  last  Sunday.  I  teach  them  the  verses  one. 
day,  and  then  they  recite  them  to  my -little  assist- 
ant teachers  the  next." 

"  Yes,  but,  Mary  Jay,"  said  Marielle,  "  why 
don't  you  let  them  learn  their  lessons  at  home  ?  " 

"  Because,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  it  would  be  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  to  their  mothers  to  attend  to 


Ill 


•  it ;  for  their  mothers  are  all  very  busy  with  their 
work.  And  if  nobody  attended  to  them,  they 
would  not  have  them  well  learned,  and  my  assist- 
ant teachers  would  have  to  hear  bad  lessons  re- 
cited ;  and  that  is  very  painful  and  unpleasant 
to  teachers,  and  very  injurious  to  scholars.  So  I 
teach  them  their  lessons  myself,  and  so  they  are 
almost  all  well  learned." 

Marielle  and  Lucy  now  looked  around  the 
room,  and  they  observed  that  it  was  getting  very 
still  again.  A  large  part  of  the  classes  had 
finished  saying  their  lessons.  Mary  Jay  waited 
a  few  minutes  longer,  until  all  had  finished,  and 
then  she  rapped  again  upon  her  table.  Then  the 
children  all  returned  again  to  their  places,  upon 
the  seats  around  the  area.  Marielle  observed  that 
they  were  arranged  regularly,  the  younger  children 
at  the  two  sides,  nearest  to  Mary  Jay,  and  the 
older  ones  back  upon  the  seat  that  passed  across 
at  the  farther  end  of  the  area. 

When  they  were  all  seated,  they  looked  atten- 
tively towards  Mary  Jay,  in  silence,  as  if  they 
expected  something ;  and  then  suddenly,  all  to- 
gether at  the  same  instant,  they  rose.  At  the 
next  instant,  they  all  faced  half  round,  those  on 
each  side  turning  towards  the  ends  of  the  seats 
where  the   little   girls   sat,  which   were  towards 


116  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

Mary  Jay.  The  larger  girls,  on  the  seat  at  the. 
Dack  side  of  the  area,  faced  in  opposite  directions  ; 
one  half  turning  out  towards  one  side  of  the  room, 
and  the  other  towards  the  other.  Of  course  the 
two  girls  which  were  in  the  middle  stood  back  to 
back.  Marielle  and  Lucy  wondered  how  they 
happened  to  move  so  precisely  together.  The 
fact  was,  they  moved  in  obedience  to  signals 
which  Mary  Jay  made,  but  which  were  so  slight 
-hat  Marielle  and  Lucy  did  not  observe  them. 

"  Sing,"  said  Mary  Jay ;  and  she  immediately 
began  herself  to  sing  a  hymn,  in  a  clear  and  sweet 
tone  of  voice,  to  a  tune  which  all  the  children 
knew,  and  which  was  a  very  good  tune  to  march 
by.  The  children  joined  in  with  her,  singing  loud 
and  full.  As  soon  as  the  children  had  taken  up 
the  tune,  Mary  Jay  stopped  singing,  and  let  them 
go  on  alone.  Presently,  just  as  they  reached  the 
end  of  the  first  line,  she  gave  another  order, 
which  was,  — 

"Time." 

The  children  all  began  beating  the  time  with 
the  left  foot,  while  they  went  on  singing.  At  the 
end  of  the  second  line,  Mary  Jay  said,  — 

"March." 

And  the  children  all  began  to  march.  The 
two  little  girls  who  were  at  the  ends  of  the  line 


117 


towards  Mary  Jay's  table,  turned,  and  marched 
towards  each  other,  advancing  in  front  of  the 
table.  When  they  met,  they  turned  towards  the 
area,  and  took  hold  of  hands ;  and  then  they 
marched  along  down  the  centre  of  the  area,  all  the 
rest  following,  and  joining  hands,  two  by  two,  as 
fast  as  they  came  together. 

When  the  two  leaders  reached  the  back  side 
of  the  area,  they  separated  again,  and  turned  off, 
one  to  each  side,  and  so  came  back,  along  by  the 
seats  where  the  line  had  first  been  formed.  Thus 
they  passed  around  and  down  through  the  area 
three  or  four  times,  until  they  had  sung  all  the 
verses  of  the  hymn.  Then  they  took  their  places 
in  the  lines  again ;  and,  at  a  given  signal  from 
Mary  Jay,  they  all  sat  down  together. 

"  Now,  children,  we  will  learn  the  verse  for  the 
next  Sabbath  ;  —  no,  you  will  not  come  here  next 
Sabbath  to  recite  it,  for  this  is  the  last  day ;  but 
you  can  learn  the  verse,  at  any  rate.  I  have 
chosen  one  for  you  which  is  a  great  comfort  to 
me  now  that  I  am  going  away.     It  is  this  :  — 

"  i  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  one  farthing  1 
and,  behold,  not  one  of  them  is  forgotten  before 
God: 

"  Now,  repeat.     Are  not  two  sparrows  — " 


118  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

And  all  the  girls  said  after  her,  "  Are  not  two 
sparrows" 

"  Sold  for  one  farthing"  continued  Mary  Jay. 

"  Sold  for  one  farthing"  repeated  the  scholars. 

And  thus  they  went  on,  Mary  Jay  enuncia- 
ting the  several  clauses  of  the  verse  in  succession, 
and  the  children  repeating  them  after  her.  Mari- 
elle  and  Lucy  were  surprised  to  see  how  pre- 
cisely together  the  children  repeated  the  words. 

Mary  Jay  had  trained  them  to  do  it  very  ac- 
curately. 

" Children,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "do  you  know 
what  this  verse  means  ?  " 

The  children  were  silent. 

•"  It  means,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  that  sparrows  are 
such  little  things  that  it  takes  two  of  them  to  be 
worth  a  farthing  ;  and  yet  God  takes  care  of  every 
one.  Of  course  much  more  will  he  take  care  of 
us.  So  you  see,  children,  it  is  an  excellent  verse 
for  us  all;  and  particularly  it  is  an  excellent 
verse  for  me,  now  that  I  am  going  away  alone 
among  strangers. 

"And  now  let  us  see,"  she  continued,  "if 
some  of  you  can  repeat  the  verse.  Lucretia,  you 
may  try." 

So  Lucretia,  who  was  one  of  the  girls  upon  the 


119 


back  seat,  rose,  and  repeated  the  verse.  She 
spoke  in  a  low  and  gentle  tone,  but  they  were  all 
very  still,  and  so  they  could  hear  her ;  and  she 
said  it  very  correctly. 

"  Anna,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

Anna  was  a  little  girl  who  sat  very  near  Ma- 
rielle  and  Lucy.  She  rose,  and  repeated  the 
verse  in  a  very  correct  and  proper  manner. 

"  Now  all  may  repeat  it  together,"  said  Mary 
Jay.     "  Begin." 

At  the  word  begin,  they  all  commenced  with 
one  voice,  and  went  through  the  verse  with  great 
correctness  and  precision. 

"  Very  well,  children,"  said  Mary  Jay.  "  Here 
ends  your  lesson.  Now  we  will  sing  a  verse. 
Rise." 

And  all  the  children  rose. 

Then  Mary  Jay  commenced  singing,  and  all 
the  children  joined  with  her.  When  it  was  con- 
cluded, she  directed  them  to  sit  down  again.  And 
then  she  said,  "  Recess  ;  "  —  and  all  her  scholars 
arose,  and  .began  to  walk  about  the  room,  min- 
gling with  each  other,  and  talking  in  low  and 
t subdued  tones. 
"  Why,  Mary  Jay,"  said  Marielle,  "  do  you 
have  a  recess  in  your  Sunday  school?  I  never 
heard  of  a  recess  in  a  Sunday  school." 


120  LUCY  AT  PLAT. 

"  Nor  I,"  said  Mary  Jay  ;  «  but  my  scholars 
are  so  little  that  they  get  tired  of  sitting  still  so 
long  ;  and  so  I  let  them  have  a  little  recess,  to 
move  about  a  few  minutes  and  rest  themselves. 
But  I  tell  them  that  they  must  remember  that  it  is 
the  Sabbath  day,  and  so  be  very  still.  And  I 
think  that  they  are  pretty  still." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marielle,  "  I  think  they  are  very 
still,  indeed." 

"  What  comes  after  the  recess  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  what  I  call  my  sermon  comes  next," 
said  Mary  Jay,  with  a  smile. 

"  Your  sermon  ?  "  said  Lucy.  "  Do  you  have 
a  sermon  ? " 

"  You'll  see,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

During  the  recess,  some  of  the  girls  went  out 
and  stood  upon  the  door  step,  or  walked  about 
upon  the  green.  But  they  all  came  back  again 
very  soon  ;  and  when  Mary  Jay  rapped  upon 
the  table,  they  were  all  ready  to  take  their  seats. 

When  they  were  seated,  Mary  Jay  began  to 
instruct  them  as  follows :  — 

"  What  is  necessary  for  us,  children,  in  order 
that  we  should  be  happy  in  heaven,  after  we  die  ?  " 

The  children  seemed  to  hesitate:  at  length, 
one  or  two  said,  "  We  must  be  good." 

"  We  must  be  good,"  repeated  Maiy  Jay.     "  Is 


121 


that  the  right  answer  ?    All  of  you  that  think  that 
is  the  right  answer,  may  hold  up  your  hands." 

Nearly  all  the  children  held  up  their  hands. 

"  I  don't  think  it  is  the  best  answer,"  said 
Mary  Jay.  "  We  will  examine  it  a  little.  Must 
we  be  always  good,  or  will  it  do  to  be  sometimes 
good  and  sometimes  bad  ?  " 

"  Always,"  replied  the  children,  very  promptly. 

"  Then,  in  order  to  go  to  heaven  after  we  die, 
we  must  be  always  good." 

"Yes,"  said  the  children,  with  one  voice. 

"  Then,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  who  do  you  think 
will  ever  go  to  heaven  ?  " 

There  was  a  long  pause ;  —  none  of  the  chil- 
dren answered. 

"  Who  do  you  think  will  ever  go  to  heaven," 
repeated  Mary  Jay,  "  if  it  is  only  those  can  go 
who  are  always  good  ? " 

There  was  of  course  no  reply  to  be  made  to 
this  question. 

"  No,  children,"  continued  Mary  Jay,  "  you 
have  not  given  me  the  right  answer.  You  have 
given  the  common  answer,  but  I  don't  think  it  is 
the  right  answer. 

"  You  have  all  heard  of  the  thief  that  was 
crucified  with  Jesus  Christ  —  the  penitent  thief. 
Where  did  he  go  when  he  died  ?  " 
11 


122  LUCY  AT  PLAT. 

"  To  heaven,"  said  a  great  many  of  the 
children. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay.  "  Jesus  Christ  prom- 
ised him  that  he  should  go  with  him  into  pa  radise  ; 
which  meant  heaven.  Now,  was  he  good  v/hile 
he  lived  in  this  world  ?  " 

"  No,  indeed, "  said  one  of  the  children  ;  "  he 
was  a  thief." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mary  Jay ;  "  so  that  you  see 
the  right  answer  is  not  that  we  must  be  good  in  or- 
der to  go  to  heaven  ;  we  must  be what  ?  " 

Mary  Jay  paused,  and  looked  all  about  the 
room,  waiting  for  an  answer. 

"  We  must  be what  ? forgiven. 

That's    it  —  Forgiven.      Not   good,   but  for- 
given,  for  being  bad.     That's  the  distinction. 

"  Do  not  think,  however,  children,  that  I  am 
excusing  you  from  being  good.  We  ought  to 
be  good  all  the  time.  We  ought  to  obey  all 
God's  commands,  and  do  all  our  duty.  But, 
then,  we  must  not  expect  to  depend  on  this  as 
the  means  of  going  to  heaven.  It  is  forgive- 
ness for  our  sins  that  we  need.  Therefore,  chil- 
dren, remember,  if  you  want  to  be  happy  when 
you  die,  you  must  confess  your  sins  to  God,  and 
ask  him  to  forgive  you  now.  This  is  my  last 
advice  to  you.      Ask   God  to   forgive   you  for 


MART    JAY'S    SUNDAY    SCHOOL.  123 

every  sin.  Whenever  you  do  wrong,  as  soon 
as  possible  ask  God  to  forgive  you,  and  every 
night,  when  you  go  to  bed,  confess  all  your  sins, 
and  pray  to  God  to  forgive  you.  That  is  the 
way  to  prepare  yourselves  to  go  to  heaven.  And 
remember  that  there  never  was  a  person  good 
enough  to  go  to  heaven  without  forgiveness,  nor 
bad  enough  to  be  shut  out  with  it." 

Mary  Jay  made  some  further  explanations,  and 
then  she  gave  them  another  verse  to  sing.  After 
they  had  sung  the  verse,  she  read  another  prayer 
out  of  her  book ;  and  this  was  the  closing  exercise 
of  the  school.  Then  the  children  put  on  their 
bonnets  and  caps,  and  all  went  away. 

Mary  Jay  and  the  two  girls  then  set  out  to- 
gether to  walk  along  towards  home. 

They  went  on  slowly,  and  talking  by  the 
way,  for  some  time.  They  did  not  go  back  the 
way  they  came,  for  there  was  some  difficulty  in 
getting  over  the  fences;  and  now  the  sun  was 
down  so  far  that  the  road  was  pretty  cool  and 
shady.  They  saw  little  groups  of  Mary  Jay's 
scholars  walking  along  the  road,  at  different  dis- 
tances before  them.  These  children,  however, 
gradually  disappeared.  Some  turned  off  into 
other  roads ;  some  went  into  farm-houses :   and 


124  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

pretty  soon  all  had  gone  but  two,  who  were  stand- 
ing at  a  little  gate  which  led  to  a  small  white  house, 
a  little  way  back  from  the  road,  and  at  a  short 
distance  before  Mary  Jay  and  the  two  girls  who 
were  with  her.  When  they  came  up  to  the  place 
where  the  two  scholars  were  standing,  they  spoke 
to  Mary  Jay,  and  told  her  that  their  mother  want- 
ed to  have  her  come  in  a  minute  as  she  was 
going  by. 

Mary  Jay  said  that  she  would  ;  and  she  asked 
Lucy  and  Marielle  to  go  in  with  her.  But  they 
declined.  Marielle  said  that  she  and  Lucy  would 
walk  along  very  slowly.  So  Mary  Jay  went  in, 
and  Marielle  and  Lucy  walked  on  a  few  steps, 
and  then  sat  down  to  wait  for  her. 

After  about  five  minutes,  they  saw  Mary  Jay 
coming  out  with  something  in  her  hand.  Lucy 
wondered  what  it  could  be.  When  Mary  Jay 
came  along  to  where  Lucy  was,  she  and  Marielle 
rose,  and  went  forward  to  meet  her,  and  asked 
what  it  was. 

"  Why,  the  mother  of  two  of  my  scholars  lives 
there,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  and  she  says  that  she  is 
very  much  obliged  to  me  for  teaching  her  chil- 
dren, and  that  they  have  been  a  great  deal  better 
children  since  they  came  to  my  Sabbath  school ; 


MARY    JAY'S    SUNDAY    SCHOOL.  125 

and  so  she  has  made  me  a  present  of  these  good, 
warm  moccasins.  They  are  to  keep  my  feet  warm 
next  winter." 

Lucy  and  Marielle  looked  at  the  moccasins. 
They  were  very  pretty,  and  Marielle  said  that 
they  looked  as  if  they  would  be  very  warm. 

"  I  should  think  you  would  be  very  glad  to  get 
such  good,  warm  moccasins,"  said  Lucy 

"  I  am,"  replied  Mary  Jay.  "  And  I  am  glad, 
too,  to  hear  that  any  of  my  scholars  are  good  chil- 
dren." 

11* 


126 


CHAPTER    VIII 
THE  PRESENT. 

When  Lucy  and  Marielle  had  left  Mary  Jay, 
on  their  way  home  from  the  Sabbath  school,  as 
was  described  in  the  last  chapter,  and  had  walked 
on  some  way,  Marielle  said  that  she  thought  it 
would  be  a  good  plan  for  them  and  some  of  the 
other  girls  to  unite  and  buy  something  for  a  pres- 
ent for  Mary  Jay. 

"  So  it  would,"  said  Lucy.  "  It  would  be  an 
excellent  plan.  I  have  got  some  money  myself. 
And,  besides,  my  father  will  give  me  some  more. 
I  know  he  will.  I  will  ask  him  as  soon  as  I  get 
home." 

"Well,"  said  Marielle,  "you  may  ask  your 
father,  and  I  will  ask  mine ;  and  then,  if  they  think 
it  is  a  good  plan,  we  will  ask  some  of  the  other 
girls." 

Lucy  went  home  very  much  interested  in  this 
idea ;  and,  when  she  came  to  propose  it  to  her  pa- 
rents, she  found  that  they  approved  of  it  very 
highly.     Marielle  came  over  to  see  Lucy  early 


THE    PRESENT.  127 

on  Monday  morning,  and  said  that  her  father 
thought  it  would  be  a  very  good  plan ;  and  so 
Lucy  and  Marielle  went  around  to  collect  the 
money. 

They  found  that  the  plan  was  very  favorably 
received  wherever  they  went.  Mary  Jay  had 
taken  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  performing  acts 
of  kindness  for  the  girls  while  she  was  in  school 
with  them,  as  is  described  in  Lucy's  Stories. 
And  she  had  instructed  them  since,  and  read  them 
stories  out  of  her  Morocco  Book,  and  had  often 
given  them  good  advice ;  and  she  had  done  all  in 
so  gentle  and  pleasant  a  manner,  that  she  had  ac- 
quired a  great  influence  over  all  the  children, 
which  she  had  used  in  such  a  manner  as  to  do 
them  a  great  deal  of  good.  So  the  children  were 
all  very  much  pleased  with  Marielle's  plan,  and 
their  parents  were  very  much  pleased  too. 

They  generally  asked  Marielle  what  the  present 
was  to  be.  But  she  said  that  it  was  not  for  her 
to  decide  that ;  but  that,  as  soon  as  all  the  money 
was  collected,  all  the  girls  that  had  joined  in  it 
were  to  have  a  meeting,  and  then  consider  what 
it  would  be  best  to  buy. 

They  collected  several  dollars ;  and  it  was 
agreed  that  they  should  all  meet  that  afternoon, 
in  the  garden,  at  Marielle's,  to  determine  what  to 


128  LUCY  AT  PLAT. 

buy.  And  in  the  mean  time,  Lucy  was  to  go  and 
see  Mary  Jay,  and  find  out  what  day  she  was 
going  to  leave  town,  in  order  that  they  might 
know  how  soon  they  must  have  the  present  ready. 
But  they  charged  Lucy  not  to  let  Mary  Jay  know 
what  the  reason  was  which  led  her  to  inquire. 

That  afternoon,  they  all  assembled  for  their  con- 
sultation. The  persons  were  just  the  same  that 
had  been  at  the  gypsy  supper ;  for  all  that  were 
at  the  gypsy  supper  had  contributed.  Miss  Anne 
went  also  with  Lucy,  as  it  was  necessary  to  have 
some  one  older  than  the  rest,  to  preside. 

There  were  a  great  many  things  proposed  for 
the  present.  One  wanted  it  to  be  a  new  gown, 
another  a  desk,  another  some  books. 

"  A  watch,"  said  Laura  — "  how  would  a 
watch  do  ? " 

"  O  yes,"  they  all  exclaimed,  "  a  watch,  a 
watch  !  let  us  get  a  watch." 

"  No,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  you  cannot  have  a 
watch.     There  is  not  money  enough  for  a  watch." 

"  Not  money  enough  ?  "  said  little  Charlotte. 
"O  Miss  Anne,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  money." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  I  know  there  is  ; 
but  it  is  not  enough  to  buy  a  good  watch.  And 
it  would  be  best  not  to  give  her  one,  unless  it 
was  a  good  one." 


THE    PRESENT.  L29 

"  Let  it  be  a  desk  then,"  said  Laura.  "  I 
would  have  a  desk.  Mary  Jay  writes  a  great  deal, 
and  I  know  that  she  would  like  a  handsome  por- 
table desk.  There  is  money  enough  for  that; 
isn't  there,  Miss  Anne  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  I  think  there  is." 

"I  know  what  I  would  give  her,"  said  Royal. 

"  What?  "  asked  several  of  the  children. 

(i  A  crutch,"  answered  Royal. 

"  A  crutch  !  "  they  exclaimed,  in  astonishment. 
"  O  Royal,  a  crutch  isn't  a  pretty  thing  at  all. 
I  would  not  give  her  a  crutch." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  a  good,  handsome  crutch  ; 
an  elegant  crutch.  And  then,  when  people  see 
that  she  is  lame,  they  won't  think  she  is  poor." 

"  O  no,  no,"  said  the  children,  "  I  wouldn't 
have  a  crutch  ;  would  you,  Miss  Anne  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Miss  Anne.  "  I 
never  should  have  thought  of  such  a  thing,  my- 
self; but  since  Royal  has  thought  of  it,  it  is  worth 
considering.  It  would  be  a  singular  thing  for  a 
present,  certainly." 

"  We  will  have  it  made  of  rose-wood,"  said 
Royal,  "  with  a  silver  plate  on  it,  and  all  our 
names." 

"  I  don't  think  that  there  will  be  time  to  have 
a  crutch  made,"  said  Miss  Anne. 


130  LUCY  AT  PLAY. 

"  Yes,  there  will,"  said  Lucy,  "  for  she  is  not 
going  till  next  week,  now.  She  was  going  this 
week ;  but  she  says  it  is  put  off  till  next  week, 
on  Tuesday." 

"  Did  you  tell  her  what  you  wanted  to  know 
for  ?  "  asked  Royal. 

"  No,"  replied  Lucy ;  "  I  told  her  it  was  a 
secret." 

The  children  all  laughed  aloud  at  this ;  but 
Lucy  could  not  see  what  it  was  that  made  them 
laugh. 

"Why,  you  told  me,"  said  she,  "not  to  let 
Mary  Jay  know,  and  so  I  told  her  it  was  a 
secret." 

"  Well,  you  should  not  have  told  her  any  thing 
about  it,"  said  Royal. 

"  O,  never  mind  that,"  said  Miss  Anne.  "  Let 
us  think  about  the  present.  I  think  a  desk  would 
be  a  very  good  thing  indeed ;  and  as  to  a  crutch, 
I  don't  know.  When  Royal  first  mentioned  it,  I 
did  not  like  it  very  well." 

"  Nor  I,"  said  Laura.  "  I  wish  she  did  not 
use  any  crutch  at  all." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  we  all  wish  that 
very  much ;  but  since  she  has  to  wear  one,  and 
probably  will  do  so  for  a  long  time  to  come,  the 
question  is,  whether  we  had  not  better  get  her  a 


THE    PRESENT.  131 

handsome  one.  And  I  don't  know.  I  should 
like  to  ask  Lucy's  mother,  or  Marielle's." 

"  Let  us  go  and  ask  my  mother,  now,"  said 
Marielle  ;  "  she  is  sitting  on  the  piazza." 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  we  will 
go."  So  all  the  children  walked  along,  following 
Miss  Anne,  out  of  the  summer-house,  where  they 
had  assembled,  and  along  the  garden- walks,  till 
they  came  to  a  piazza  which  projected  into  the 
garden  from  the  rear  of  the  house  where  Marielle 
lived.  There  was  an  elderly  lady,  dressed  in 
black  silk,  sitting  upon  the  platform  of  the  piazza, 
in  a  little  rocking-chair,  sewing.  Her  work-table 
was  by  her  side.  Miss  Anne  advanced  to  a 
little  railing  upon  the  edge  of  the  platform,  and 
the  children  all  gathered  around,  while  she 
stated  the  case  to  the  lady,  who  was  Marielle's 
mother. 

The  lady  smiled  when  she  heard  of  Royal's 
proposal ;  but  she  did  not  answer  hastily.  She 
paused  a  short  time  to  consider.  At  length  she 
said,  — 

"  I  am  not  certain  but  that  Royal  is  right.  It 
is  true  that  a  desk  would  be  a  very  appropriate 
present.  She  would  use  it  a  great  deal,  and  it 
would  be  a  great  source  of  enjoyment  to  her. 
And  yet  a  handsome  crutch  might,  on  the  whole, 


132  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

be  still  better.  A  young  female,  suffering  under 
such  a  calamity,  feels  depressed  and  disheartened 
by  it,  especially  when  in  public,  and  among  stran- 
gers. The  feeling  of  being  an  object  of  pity  is 
painful.  But  if  she  wore  a  handsome  crutch, 
one  that  was  evidently  somewhat  expensive,  peo- 
ple would  see  that  she  was  not  in  very  humble 
circumstances ;  and  I  think  it  likely  the  wearing 
it  would  save  her  feelings,  and  encourage  her  in 
the  presence  of  strangers,  and  thus  help  her 
where  she  most  needs  help.  Yes,  I  am  rather 
in  favor  of  a  crutch.  They  make  them  some- 
times very  handsome  for  ladies.  The  shaft  is  of 
rose-wood,  down  as  far  as  the  hand  extends,  and 
the  lower  part  is  a  metallic  rod,  with  a  sort  of 
button  at  the  bottom." 

~  "  Do  you  think  we  shall  have  money  enough  ?  " 
said  Marielle. 

"  O,  never  mind  that,"  replied  her  mother. 
"  Miss  Anne  may  engage  such  a  one  as  she 
thinks  most  suitable;  and  we  shall  be  able  to 
make  out  the  money  in  some  way  or  other,  1  dare 
say.  Only,  Miss  Anne,"  she  continued,  "  you 
must  not  get  one  too  expensive,  or  that  will  be 
entirely  out  of  keeping  with  her  dress  and  ap- 
pearance in  general,  or  that  will  have  the  appear- 
ance of  an  ostentatious  display." 


THE    PRESENT.  133 

"  I  shall  not  know,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  exactly 
what  kind  of  one  to  get ;  but  I  can  ask  Lucy's 
father  about  it.  But  come,  girls,"  she  added, 
"  we  will  go  back  to  the  summer-house  again." 

They  talked  over  the  subject  some  time  longer ; 
and  the  more  they  considered  it,  the  better  they 
were  pleased  with  this  plan.  In  fact,  they  all 
said  that,  if  they  were  lame,  they  should  want  to 
have  a  handsome  crutch,  by  all  means.  At  last 
it  was  agreed  that  Miss  Anne  should  talk  with 
Lucy's  father  about  it,  and,  if  he  approved  of  the 
plan,  that  she  should  go  into  the  town,  to  such  a 
place  as  he  should  recommend,  and  get  one  made. 
She  was  to  get  it  done  by  Saturday,  and  then  they 
were  all  to  meet  at  the  same  place,  to  look  at  it, 
and  to  determine  in  what  way  to  present  it  to 
Mary  Jay. 

On  Saturday,  they  assembled  accordingly.  As 
the  different  groups  came  up,  they  waited  at  the 
gate,  to  inquire  of  each  other  if  the  crutch  had 
come.  Presently  they  saw  Miss  Anne,  and  Royal 
and  Lucy,  walking  along  towards  them  at  a  rapid 
rate,  and  Royal  had  the  crutch  in  his  hand.  As 
he  drew  nearer,  they  perceived  that  it  was  done 
up  in  papers,  which  were  carefully  tied  around  it, 
so  as  to  cover  it  entirely.  When  Royal  reached 
12 


134  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

the  gate,  they  opened  it,  and  all  the  part)  went 
in  toward  the  summer-house,  eager  to  see. 

When  they  reached  the  place,  Royal  untied 
the  strings,  and  unrolled  the  papers,  one  after 
another,  and  brought  the  whole  crutch  to  view. 
The  children  all  said  that  it  was  very  beautiful. 
The  upper  part  was  made  of  rose-wood,  of  a  splen- 
did color,  and  it  was  polished  highly.  The 
lower  part  was  a  metallic  rod,  with  a  little  knob 
at  the  bottom.  The  color  of  the  metal  was  white 
On  the  top  of  the  crutch,  at  the  place  where  it 
comes  under  the  arm,  there  was  a  small  silver 
plate,  with  something  engraved  upon  it.  The 
children  all  wanted  to  see  what  it  was ;  and  they 
found,  on  holding  it  down  so  that  they  could  see 
it,  that  the  plate  contained  the  words,  From 
Friends. 

"  We  thought  that  that  would  be  better,"  said 
Miss  Anne,  "  than  to  put  all  your  names  on." 

"Yes,"  said  Marielle,  "a  great  deal  better. 
Mary  Jay  will  remember  all  our  names." 

"  Yes,"  rejoined  Miss  Anne,  "  we  thought  it 
would  be  well,  when  you  send  it,  to  send  a  note 
with  all  your  names  in  it,  because  she  will  want 
to  know  whom  it  is  from." 

"  And  my  name  too  ? "  said  little  Charlotte. 


4 


THE    PRESENT.  135 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  your  name  too,  by 
all  means." 

"  Well,"  said  Charlotte,  in  a  tone  of  great  satis- 
faction ;  and  she  went  capering  about  in  high 
glee. 

Various  plans  were  proposed  for  giving  the 
crutch  to  Mary  Jay.  Among  the  others  there 
was  this  —  that  Miss  Anne  and  two  or  three  of  the 
children  should  be  at  the  house  when  Mary  Jay 
was  going  away  ;  that  they  should  have  the  new 
crutch  hid  behind  the  stage  ;  and  that,  when  Mary 
Jay  came  out  to  get  into  the  stage-coach,  Miss 
Anne  should  offer  to  hold  her  crutch  for  her  while 
she  got  in ;  and  then,  after  she  was  fairly  in  her 
seat,  that  they  should  put  in  the  new  crutch 
instead  of  the  old  one,  and  shut  the  stage  door 
quick,  and  let  her  be  driven  off. 

Miss  Anne  said  that  that  was  certainly  an  in- 
genious plan ;  but  she  thought  that  that  mode 
would  not  be  so  pleasant  to  Mary  Jay,  as  some 
other  mode  might  be. 

"It  would  give  her  a  sudden  surprise,"  con- 
tinued Miss  Anne,  "  which  would  not  be  pleasant 
in  so  public  a  place  as  a  stage-coach.  She  would 
probably  be  very  much  embarrassed  and  con- 
•iised." 

"  Besides,"  said  Laura,  "  I  don't  want  to  have 


136  LUCY  AT  PLAY. 

it  given  to  her  just  when  she  is  going  away.  I 
want  to  see  how  she  looks,  and  to  hear  what  she 
says.  We  had  better  all  go  together,  and  ask  her 
to  come  out,  and  then  give  it  to  her  ourselves." 

"  No,"  said  Marielle,  "  I  don't  think  that  will 
be  the  best  way.  She  would  rather  be  alone 
when  she  receives  it.  Let  Royal  carry  it  to  the 
door  all  tied  up,  and  the  note  fastened  to  it,  and 
give  it  to  her  sister,  and  ask  her  to  give  it  to  Mary 
Jay,  and  then  come  right  away." 

There  was  some  objection  made  to  this  plan, 
but  at  length  it  was  adopted.  Miss  Anne  thought 
it  would  be  pleasanter  for  Mary  Jay  to  receive  it 
in  some  such  way  as  that.  "  I  think,"  said  she, 
"that  she  would  rather  receive  it  alone.  And 
then,  besides,  it  is  better  that  she  should  have  it  a 
little  time  before  she  goes  away,  in  order  that  she 
may  become  somewhat  accustomed  to  it." 

Accordingly,  that  evening  Royal  carried  the 
crutch.  He  waited  until  evening,  in  order  that 
he  might  be  more  sure  not  to  find  Mary  Jay  her- 
self at  the  door,  or  in  the  yard  or  garden.  He 
knocked  at  the  door,  and  Mary  Jay's  sister  came. 
He  handed  her  the  crutch,  and  the  note,  and 
asked  her  if  she  would  be  so  good  as  to  give  them 
to  Mary  Jay ;  and  then  he  turned  around  and 
came  directly  away. 


THE    PRESENT.  137 

On  the  Monday  following,  which  was  the  day 
before  Mary  Jay  went  away,  the  girls  received  a 
little  note  from  her,  thanking  them  for  their  pres- 
ent.    The  note  was  as  follows  :  — 

"  My  dear  Friends, 

"  I  was  very  much  astonished  last  evening 
when  my  sister  brought  in  your  beautiful  present 
to  me.  I  like  it  very  much  indeed.  It  is  so  light 
that  I  can  walk  very  easily  with  it,  and  it  feels 
very  smooth  to  my  hand.  I  shall  not  be  nearly 
so  much  troubled  because  I  am  lame,  when  I  am 
among  strangers,  now  that  I  have  got  such  a 
beautiful  crutch ;  and  you  may  depend  upon  it 
that  I  shall  not  very  soon  forget  who  the  friends 
were  that  performed  so  great  an  act  of  kind- 
ness for 

Mart  Jay." 

Maiy  Jay  found  her  crutch,  in  use,  as  valuable 
as  she  had  expected.  She  felt  far  less  awkward 
and  embarrassed  ;  for,  as  Royal  had  predicted,  she 
had  now  the  feeling  that,  though  it  was  evident 
that  she  was  lame,  the  beauty  of  her  crutch 
showed  that,  at  any  rate,  she  was  not  friendless 
and  poor. 

12* 


138 


CHAPTER    IX. 


A   FRIGHT. 


Royal  and  Lucy  formed  a  plan  to  go  for 
blueberries  in  a  wild  piece  of  pasture  land,  not 
very  far  from  where  they  lived.  They  got 
several  other  children  to  go  with  them.  There 
was  Rollo,  who  was  then  quite  a  small  boy,  and 
a  boy  named  Thomas,  and  Marielle. 

They  took  some  luncheon  in  a  basket.  Their 
plan  was  to  eat  their  luncheon,  out  of  the  basket, 
as  soon  as  they  got  to  the  blueberry  ground. 
Then  they  were  going  to  fill  the  basket  with 
blueberries,  to  bring  home.  Each  one  took  a 
little  tin  mug  to  pick  in,  because  they  could  not 
conveniently  all  pick  into  the  same  basket. 

They  walked  along  very  pleasantly  together, 
till  they  came  to  the  pasture.  Then  they  had  to 
clamber  along  up  rough  and  precipitous  paths, 
and  among  rocks  and  brambles.  At  last  they 
came  to  the  place  where  the  blueberries  were 
found.     Before  they  began  to  gather  them,  how- 


A    FRIGHT.  139 

ever,  they  went  into  a  little  copse  of  trees,  near 
the  borders  of  a  brook,  and  sat  down  upon  the 
stones  to  eat  their  luncheon. 

The  brook  was  pretty  large,  and  it  flowed 
among  rocks  and  bushes ;  and  just  opposite  to 
where  the  children  had  stopped,  it  divided  into 
two  parts,  which  formed  an  island  between  them. 
Royal  and  William  said  that  they  meant  to  go 
over  to  that  island,  and  eat  their  luncheon  there. 
So  they  began  to  step  along  from  one  stone  to 
another  across  the  brook. 

"  I  mean  to  go  too,"  said  Rollo. 

"  And  I,"  added  Lucy.  And  they  rose  from 
their  seats,  and  attempted  to  follow  the  two  boys. 

"  Royal,  stop  for  me,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  stop  and 
help  me  over  this  deep  place." 

"  O,  you  must  jump  over  yourself,"  said  Royal, 
«  as  I  did." 

"  But  it  is  too  far  for  me  to  jump,"  said  Lucy. 
"I  wish  you  would  just  come  and  help  me 
across." 

"  Yes,  come,  Royal,"  said  Rollo. 

But  Royal  had  got  over  upon  the  island,  and 
was  lost  from  view  among  the  bushes.  Rollo 
and  Lucy  called  louder  and  louder ;  but  Royal 
only  answered  with  a  sort  of  shout,  such  that  they 


140  LUCY  AT  PLAY. 

could  not  hear  what  he  said,  but  only  they  knew 
that  he  was  not  coming  back. 

It  was  wrong  for  Royal  and  Thomas  to  do  so 
They  were  the  oldest  boys  of  the  party,  and  they 
ought  to  have  acted  as  guides  and  protectors  of 
the  rest.  Instead  of  goin£  off  to  seek  their  own 
amusement,  and  leaving  the  rest  of  the  party,  they 
ought  to  have  been  willing  to  have  sacrificed  their 
own  wishes,  in  some  respects,  in  order  to  please 
the  younger  children. 

"  Come  back,  children,"  said  Marielle.  "  I 
would  not  go  over  upon  the  island." 

"  Why,  Marielle,"  replied  Lucy,  "  it  is  a  beau- 
tiful place  there,  and  we  want  to  go  very  much'. 
I  don't  see  why  Royal  couldn't  have  come  back 
and  helped  us  across." 

"  Well,"  said  Marielle,  "  I'll  come  and  see  if 
I  can  help  you  over." 

So  Marielle  went  to  the  place.  The  children 
were  standing  upon  a  flat  stone,  near  the  middle 
of  the  brook.  The  water  which  was  beyond 
them  was  not  deep,  and  it  was  only  a  short  dis- 
tance to  the  next  stone.  The  boys  had  leaped 
across  without  any  trouble,  but  Marielle  hesitated. 

"I  am  afraid  to  have  you  try  to  go  across 
there,"  said  Marielle. 


A    FRIGHT.  141 

"  Why,  Marielle,"  said  Lucy,  "  you  can  jump 
across  very  easily  ;  and  then,  if  you  will  take  hold 
of  our  hands,  we  can  get  across  too." 

"  Yes,  only  I  don't  know,"  said  Marielle,  "  but 
that  those  rocks  are  slippery ;  and  if  you  should 
slip  in,  and  get  one  foot  into  the  water,  then  we 
should  all  have  to  go  directly  home,  and  it  would 
spoil  our  expedition." 

"  O  dear  me  ! "  said  Rollo  ;  "  I  wish  Royal 
would  come  back." 

They  shouted  to  Royal,  several  times,  as  loud 
as  they  could,  but  they  got  no  answer.  He  had 
gone  across  from  the  upper  part  of  the  island  to 
the  main  land  again,  and  had  disappeared  among 
the  bushes. 

"  I  don't  think  that  he  ought  to  have  gone  off 
and  left  us,"  said  Lucy.  "  Now,  how  shall  we 
find  our  way  home  ?  " 

"  O,  he'll  come  back  again  before  long,"  said 
Marielle.  "  We'll  begin  to  get  our  blueberries, 
only  we'll  stay  pretty  near  here,  and  then  he  will 
know  where  to  find  us." 

So  Rollo  and  Lucy  came  back  from  the 
brook.  They  finished  eating  their  luncheon,  and 
then  they  went  back  a  little  from  the  brook,  to  a 
place   where   the  berries   were  thick,  and  com- 


142  LUCY  AT  PLAY. 

menced  gathering  them.  They  put  the  basket 
down  in  a  central  place,  where  it  would  be  con- 
venient for  them  all  to  find  it,  to  pour  in  what 
they  should  gather  in  their  mugs,  and  then  they 
went  to  work  industriously  gathering  the  blue- 
berries. 

Marielle  had  emptied  her  mug  once  into  the 
Dasket,  and  Rollo  and  Lucy  had  filled  theirs  hall 
full,  when  Royal  and  Thomas  came  back. 

"  Ah,"  said  Royal,  "you  don't  know  what  a 
beautiful  place  we  found  out  there,  Lucy." 

"  What  kind  of  a  place  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  O,  there  were  some  rocks  there  piled  up  very 
high,  and  a  great  tree  growing  out  of  a  crack  in 
one  of  them." 

"  I  wish  /could  see  it,"  said  Lucy. 

"  It  was  a  beautiful  place,"  said  Royal. 

Marielle  secretly  thought  that  it  was  not  acting 
much  like  a  gentleman  for  Royal  to  go  away  and 
leave  her  and  the  two  children  alone,  and  then 
come  back  and  boast  of  the  fine  things  that  he 
had  seen.     But  she  said  nothing. 

u  And,  Marielle,"  said  Royal,  "  we  saw  some 
other  children  out  there  getting  blueberries." 

"  Did  you  ?  "  said  Marielle. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Royal ;  "  they  were  near  a  very 
thick  piece  of  bushes." 


A    FRIGHT.  143 

"  Were  the  blueberries  pretty  thick  there  ? " 
asked  Marielle. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Royal.  "  They 
seemed  to  be  picking  them  pretty  fast. 

"  O  Thomas,"  continued  Royal,  "  I'll  tell  you 
how  we  might  have  had  some  fun.  We  might 
have  hid  in  the  bushes,  and  growled  like  two 
bears,  and*  they  would  all  have  been  frightened 
away." 

"  Yes."  said  Thomas,  "  so  we  might." 

"  I've  a  great  mind  to  go  now,"  said  Royal, 

"  No,  I  wouldn't  frighten  them,"  said  Marielle ; 
"  let  them  pick  their  berries." 

"  O,  it  will  not  frighten  them  much,"  said 
Royal ;  "  and  after  it  is  all  over,  they  will  only 
laugh  at  it." 

"  No,  you  mustn't  frighten  them,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal ;  "  let  us  go  ;  we  can  creep 
along  slyly  by  the  bank  of  the  brook,  and  get  into 
the  bushes  close  to  where  they  are." 

"  No,"  said  Rollo,  gesticulating  with  his  hand, 
and  speaking  in  a  very  positive  tone;  "you 
must  not  frighten  them,  Royal." 

"  I  shall  go  and  tell  them,"  said  Lucy,  "  that 
you  an't  any  bears  at  all ;  that  you  are  nothing 
but  Royal." 


144 


LUCY    AT    PLAY. 


"  No,"  said  Royal,  "  you  must  not  tell  them.  If 
you  do,  I  will  run  away  from  you,  and  leave  you 
here  all  alone ;  and  I  don't  believe  that  you  can 
find  your  way  home." 

So  Royal  and  Thomas  went  off,  creeping 
slowly  along  by  the  bank  of  the  brook,  until  they 
came  to  a  little  copse  of  trees,  which  was  near 
where  the  children  were  gathering  their  blue- 
berries. There  were  three  children — two  girls 
and  a  boy.  The  oldest  girl  was  about  as  old 
as  Marielle,  the  youngest  about  as  old  as  Lucy, 
and  the  boy  was  between  them,  in  respect 
to   age. 

They  were  all  barefoot,  and  they  wore  very 
old  clothes.  In  fact,  they  were  poor,  and  had 
come  to  gather  berries  to  sell,  to  get  some  money 
for  their  mother. 

If  Marielle  and  Lucy  had  known  these  facts, 
they  would  have  been  still  more  unwilling  to  have 
had  Royal  go  and  frighten  these  children ;  and 
Royal  himself  would  probably  have  altered  his 
plan.  And  as  it  was,  Marielle  and  Lucy  were 
very  sorry  to  have  him  go. 

"  I  wish  he  would  come  back,"  said  Lucy, 
*  and  not  go  and  frighten  those  poor  children." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marielle,  "  it  seems  cruel,  while 


A    FRIGHT.  145 

they  are  there  enjoying  themselves  so  well,  to  go 
and  put  them  all  into  pain." 

"  O,  he  is'nt  goir?g  to  hurt  them,"  said  Rollo ; 
"  he  is  only  going  to  frighten  them  a  little." 

"  Frightening  them  is  hurting  them,"  said  Ma- 
rielle.  "  I  am  sure  I  think  being  frightened  is  the 
worst  kind  of  pain." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Lucy. 

"  One  day,"  added  Marielle,  u  a  dog  ran  after 
me  in  the  road,  and  frightened  me  terribly,  and  I 
fell  down  and  hurt  my  head  ;  but  the  fright  was 
a  great  deal  worse  than  the  pain  in  my  head." 

Lucy  said  that  she  had  a  great  mind  to  go  and 
tell  the  children  not  to  be  frightened.  Marielle 
made  no  reply  to  this  proposal.  She  would  not 
object  to  it ;  but,  then,  on  the  other  hand,  she  did 
not  dare  to  encourage  Lucy  to  go,  or  to  do  any 
thing  herself  to  oppose  Royal  openly  ;  as  she  was 
afraid  that  he  would  go  away  and  leave  them,  as 
he  had  threatened  to  do.  So  she  remained  where 
she  was,  and  they  all  went  on  quietly,  gathering 
berries. 

After  a  short  time,  they  suddenly  heard  an  out- 
cry, in  the  direction  towards  which  Royal  and 
Thomas  had  gone.  The  bushes  and  trees  were 
in  the  way  so  much  that  they  could  not  see  any 
tning ;  but  they  listened  and  heard  several  voices, 
13 


146  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

ottering  shouts  or  cries.  A  moment  afterwards, 
they  saw  the  three  children  running  across  the 
pasture,  at  some  distance  from%em.  They  came 
into  view  from  behind  some  trees,  and  seemed  to 
be  running  along  as  if  going  towards  the  bars  by 
which  they  had  come  into  the  pasture.  Marielle 
and  Lucy  could  not  see  them  very  well ;  they 
could  only  get  a  glimpse  of  their  heads,  now 
and  then,  as  they  ran  along ;  for  the  ground 
was  much  broken  between  where  they  were  run- 
ning and  the  place  where  Marielle  and  her  party 
stood,  and  it  was  covered  with  brakes  and 
bushes. 

"  There  they  go,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Poor  children,"  said  Marielle,  "  how  they  are 
frightened  !  I  mean  to  run  and  tell  them  that  it 
is  not  a  bear,  if  Royal  does  go  off  and  leave  us." 

So  Marielle  put  down  her  mug  by  the  basket, 
and  ran  off  after  the  girls,  calling  out,  "  Girls  ! 
Girls !  Children  !  " 

The  oldest  girl  looked  around,  and  saw  Marielle 
pursuing  her,  and  supposed  that  she,  too,  had  been 
frightened  by  the  bear,  and  was  running  away. 
So  this  only  made  them  run  the  faster.  The 
youngest  of  the  little  girls  had  dropped  her  blue- 
berries at  first ;  but  the  boy  and  the  oldest  girl 
had   contrived   to   keep  theirs   until   they   were 


A    FRIGHT.  147 

alarmed  anew  by  Marielle.  And  now  they 
dropped  their  baskets  too,  and  ran  on  as  fast  as 
they  could  run.  g 

Marielle  found  that  she  could  not  overtake 
them,  and  she  was  afraid  to  leave  Lucy  and 
Rollo  alone.  So  she  came  back  to  the  place. 
Lucy  and  Rollo  had  climbed  up  to  the  top  of  a 
little  hillock,  in  order  to  see. 

"  Could  not  you  make  them  hear  you  ? "  asked 
Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marielle,  "  they  heard  me,  and 
looked  round,  but  they  would  not  stop.  They 
only  ran  away  so  much  the  faster." 

"  Where  do  you  think  they  will  go  ?  "  said 
Lucy. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Marielle,  despondingly. 

In  a  few  minutes,  they  saw  Royal  and  Thomas 
coming  back.  They  did  not  come  by  the  same 
way  that  they  went,  but  farther  out  towards 
where  the  children  had  run  away.  They  looked 
hurried,  and  Royal  had  an  anxious  expression  of 
countenance. 

"  What  silly  children,"  he  said,  "  to  be 
frightened  so  much  !  I  did  not  think  they  would 
be  frightened  so  much !     Which  way    did  they 

go?" 

"  They  went  off  that  way,"  said  Lucy  and 


148  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

Rollo.  "You  have  frightened  them  entirely 
away." 

"  1  die!  not  think  they  would  be  frightened  so 
much,"  said    Royal. 

Marielle  said  nothing ;  but,  after  a  moment's 
pause,  she  stooped  down,  and  began  to  gather 
berries  again, 

"  I  mean  to  go  and  find  them,  and  tell  them 
to  come  back,"  said  Royal.  "  Come,  Thomas, 
go  with  me." 

So  Thomas  and  Royal  went  away,  in  the  di- 
rection in  which  the  children  had  gone.  They 
walked  as  fast  as  they  could  go.  Royal  was 
sorry  for  what  he  had  done.  He  had  supposed 
that  they  would  have  been  frightened  only  a 
little,  and  would,  perhaps,  have  run  away  a  short 
distance,  and  then  stopped ;  and  then  he  and 
Thomas  were  coming  out  of  the  woods  laugh- 
ing. 

But  it  is  always  very  dangerous  to  attempt  to 
frighten  any  body.  It  is  impossible  to  know  be- 
forehand what  effects  will  be  produced  ;  for  ter- 
ror is  very  seldom  in  proportion  to  its  cause. 
Children  in  lonely  places,  like  that  where  these 
parties  had  gone  to  gather  blueberries,  are  very 
easily  terrified  ;  and,  when  fears  are  once  aroused, 
it  is  very  difficult  to  quell  them  again.     Royal 


A    FRIGHT.  149 

did  wrong  in  attempting  to  put  the  children  to 
any  pain  whatever,  for  his  own  amusement ;  but 
he  did  not  intend  that  the  mischief  should  have 
been  so  great  as  it  really  proved. 

He  hurried  along  after  the  children,  feeling 
anxious  and  self-condemned.  He  was  in  advance 
of  Thomas,  as  he  was  very  eager  to  overtake  the 
children.  After  going  some  distance,  Thomas 
called  out  to  him,  — 

"O  Royal,  look  here!" 

Royal  turned  back,  and  Thomas  pointed  him 
to  the  place  where  the  children  had  dropped  their 
baskets  when  they  had  been  frightened  the  second 
time,  by  Marielle.  The  baskets  were  tumbled 
down,  and  the  berries  spilled  all  about.  Royal 
looked  upon  them  with  a  countenance  expressive 
of  great  concern. 

"They  have  spilled  all  their  berries,"  said 
Thomas. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal.     "  Let's  pick  'em  up." 

So  Royal  began  gathering  up  the  berries  as  fast 
as  he  could,  only  he  did  it  carefully.  Some  were 
on  the  grass,  and  were  clean  and  uninjured ;  but 
others  had  rolled  away  into  the  dusty  path,  and 
were  spoiled.  Royal  worked  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  he  said  to  Thomas,  — 

"  Thomas,  I  had  better  go  on  and  find  them, 
13* 


150  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

while  you  stay  here  and  finish  picking  up  the 
berries." 

"  No,"  said  Thomas,  "  I  don't  want  to  be  left 
here  all  alone." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  it  will  not  be  but  a  few 
minutes.  We  will  all  come  right  back  here. 
Because,  if  I  stay  here,  I  am  afraid  that  they  will 
get  away  too  far." 

Thomas  reluctantly  consented  to  remain,  and 
Royal  went  on.  Presently  he  came  to  a  path 
which  led  along  to  the  bars.  He  followed  the 
path,  sometimes  walking  fast,  and  sometimes  run- 
ning, until  he  came,  at  length,  in  view  of  the  bars ; 
and  there  he  saw  the  three  children  perplexed 
and  unhappy,  and  not  knowing  what  to  do.  The 
youngest  was  sitting  down  upon  the  grass  by  the 
side  of  the  road,  crying. 

"  Why,  girls,"  said  Royal,  when  he  came  up 
near  enough  to  speak,  "  what  made  you  run  off 
so  far?" 

The  older  girl  was  silent;  the  younger  con- 
tinued to  cry.    The  boy,  after  a  little  pause,  said, — 

"  We  heard  a  terrible  noise  down  there  in  the 
woods." 

"  O,  that  wasn't  any  thing,"  said  Royal ;  "  it 
was  only  another  boy  and  I.  But  we  didn't 
mean  to  frighten  you  so  much." 


A    FRIGHT.  151 

"  You  did  frighten  us  very  much  indeed,"  said 
the  boy. 

"  And  you  have  made  us  spill  all  our  blue- 
berries," said  the  oldest  girl ;  "  and  now  I  don't 
know  what  we  shall  do." 

Here  the  little  girl  began  crying  and  sob- 
bing anew.  Royal  stood  silent  and  sad  ;  he  was 
shocked  to  see  how  much  mischief  he  had  done. 

"  Don't  cry,  Jenny,"  said  the  older  girl.  "  We 
will  go  back  and  get  our  baskets."  She  spoke  in 
a  gentle,  but  a  very  melancholy  tone. 

"Yes,"  said  Royal,  "we'll  go  back;  and  I'll 
help  you  pick  some  more  blueberries." 

The  children  began  to  go  back  slowly,  follow- 
ing Royal.  Royal  told  them  that  Thomas  was 
picking  up  the  berries  that  they  had  spilled,  and 
that  he  would  help  them  get  some  more. 

"We  can't  stop  to  get  any  more,"  said  the 
older  girl.  "  We  must  go  home  now.  Wo  were 
just  ready  to  go  when  you  frightened  us." 

"  But  why  need  you  go  home  so  soon  r  "  said 
Royal.  "  It  is  not  but  little  more  than  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon  yet.  We  shall  have  two  hours 
more,  before  sundown." 

"  But  we  have  got  a  great  way  to  go,"  /  ».plied 
the  girl,  "  to  sell  our  berries.  Mother  told  us  to 
be  we  and  come  home  by  the  middle  of  tli€  i»ft«r- 


152  Lv/CY    AT    PLAY. 

noon,  so  as  to  have  time  to  sell  our  berries ;  for 
if  we  do  not  get  a  chance  to  sell  them  before  night, 
then  we  have  all  our  work  for  nothing." 

"  Why  ?     Can't  you  eat  your  berries  ? " 

"  Why,  yes,  we  can  eat  them,"  said  the  girl, 
"  but  we  want  to  sell  them.  But,  then,  we 
haven't  got  any  to  sell  now ;  —  I  forgot  that ;  — 
so  we  may  as  well  stay  as  not.  Only,  then, 
mother  won't  know  what  is  become  of  us.  O 
dear !  I  don't  know  what  we  shall  do." 

When  they  came  to  the  place  where  Thomas 
was  picking  up  the  blueberries,  Royal  went  to 
work  at  once,  very  busily  too.  Little  Jenny  said, 
in  a  mournful  tone,  — 

"  Now,  my  basket  isn't  here,  Mary  ;  and  I  don't 
know  where  it  is."     And  she  began  to  ciy  again. 

The  older  girl,  whose  name,  it  seems,  was  Mary, 
told  her  not  to  cry. 

"  Never  mind,  Jenny,"  said  she.  "  Don't  cry; 
mother  won't  blame  us  much,  when  we  tell  her 
all  about  it." 

"  But  I  can't  find  my  basket  at  all,"  said  Jenny. 

"  Why,  you  dropped  it  out  there  where  you 
first  began  to  run  away,"  said  Royal.  "  You  go 
back  there,  and  get  it,  while  we  are  picking  up 
these  blueberries." 

u  No,"  said  Jenny,  shaking  her  head. 


A    FRIGHT.  153 

"  Yes,"  replied  Royal ;  "  it  is  not  very  far/' 

"No,"  said  Jenny;  "I'm  afraid  to  go  there 
again." 

"  Ho  !  "  said  Royal ;  "  you  need  not  be  afraid. 
There's  nothing  there.  It  was  only  Thomas  and 
I  that  made  that  noise. 

But  Jenny  was  afraid  to  go ;  and  so  Royal 
said  that  he  would  go,  and  come  back  with  Jenny's 
basket  in  a  minute. 

"  And  you  finish  picking  these  up,  Thomas," 
said  he.     "  Pick  'em  up  very  carefully." 

So  Royal  went  away.  When  he  was  gone, 
Mary,  who  had  thus  far  stood  looking  upon  the 
scene  in  a  sort  of  silent  despair,  now  began  to  help 
Thomas  gather  up  the  blueberries  from  the  grass. 
Many  of  them  had  rolled  down  into  the  dust,  and 
got  spoiled ;  but  there  was  a  large  portion  which 
was  not  injured.  These  the  children  were  rapidly 
putting  back  into  the  basket  again,  when  Marielle 
and  Lucy,  who  had  seen  them  returning  there, 
came  over  with  Rollo  from  where  they  had  been, 
to  see  what  was  going  on. 

As  soon  as  she,  and  Rollo,  and  Lucy,  saw  what 
they  were  doing,  they  went  to  work  too,  to  help 
gather  up  the  blueberries ;  and  they  soon  got 
back  into  the  baskets  all  that  were  fit  to  go.     Be- 


154  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

fore  long,  Royal  came  back,  too,  with  Jenny's 
basket.  He  had  waited  to  pick  up  her  blueberries, 
which  had  been  spilled  as  well  as  the  rest. 

They  found  that  so  many  of  the  berries  had 
been  lost  or  spoiled  that  the  baskets  were  not 
nearly  as  full  as  they  were  before.  So  Marielle 
proposed  to  Rollo  and  Lucy  that  they  should  give 
Mary  theirs.  Rollo  and  Lucy  said  that  they 
should  like  to  do  that  very  much.  Mary  at  first 
refused  to  receive  them  ;  but  Marielle  insisted  upon 
it,  for  she  said,  "  We  have  not  got  to  go  home  yet, 
and  we  can  gather  plenty  more."  So  they  poured 
in  the  blueberries  into  the  other  children's  baskets, 
and  filled  them  full.  And  when  they  went  away, 
Marielle  went  up  to  Mary,  and  said  to  her  in  a 
low  tone,  — 

"  If  you  can't  sell  your  blueberries  easily,  come 
to  our  house,  and  perhaps  my  mother  will  buy 
them." 

Then  Royal,  and  Marielle,  and  their  party,  be- 
gan again  to  gather  blueberries  for  themselves ; 
but  the  occurrences  of  the  afternoon  had  shed  such 
a  gloom  over  the  party,  that  they  did  not  feel  in- 
clined to  stay  very  long.  They  gathered  a  few, 
and  then  they  went  home.  Royal  did  not  say 
much ;  but  he  seemed  really  sorry  for  the  mischief 


A    FRIGHT.  155 

he  had  done.  Though  he  had  spoiled  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  party,  yet  Marielle  did  not  reproach 
him.  In  fact,  he  seemed  so  sorry  for  it,  and  so 
disposed  to  do  all  he  could  to  make  reparation, 
that  in  her  heart  she  forgave  him. 


156 


CHAPTER    X. 
ROYAL   A  PROTECTOR, 

When  Royal  went  home  that  evening,  he  felt 
very  much  chagrined.  He  could  not  look  back 
upon  the  scenes  of  the  afternoon,  without  great 
mortification  and  regret.  He  was  sorry  for  hav 
ing  put  the  poor  children  to  so  much  inconve- 
nience, trouble,  and  pain.  And  then  he  was  sorry 
that  he  had  been  able  to  do  so  little  towards 
making  reparation.  The  spilled  blueberries  had 
been  gathered  up  by  Thomas,  Marielle,  Lucy, 
and  Rollo,  more  than  by  himself;  and  then  they 
had  to  take  those  which  Marielle,  Lucy,  and  Rol- 
lo, had  gathered,  to  make  amends  for  what  were 
lost  and  spoiled.  On  the  whole,  it  was  a  very 
unfortunate  afternoon,  and  he  wanted  very  much 
to  go  again,  some  day,  to  retrieve  his  character. 

Still  he  hardly  dared  to  propose  it.  He 
thought  that,  if  he  should  ask  Marielle  and  Lucy, 
they  would  not  want  to  go.  And  probably  he 
would  not  have  proposed  it,  had  it  not  been  that 
Marielle  came  one  afternoon,  not  many  days  after 


ROYAL  A  PROTECTOR.         157 

this  occurrence,  to  play  with  Lucy;  and  this 
gave  him  so  good  an  opportunity  to  propose  the 
plan,  that  he  could  not  let  it  pass. 

"  It  was,  however,  as  he  expected.  Marielle 
and  Lucy  did  not  want  to  go.  They  did  not 
give  any  reason,  but  Royal  knew  very  well  what 
it  must  be.  So  he  did  not  urge  their  going ;  but 
he  said, — 

"  Well,  Marielle,  I  owe  you  and  Lucy  some 
blueberries,  and  I  believe  I'll  go  myself,  and  get 
some  to  pay  you.  I'll  go  and  get  aunt  to  let 
Rollo  go  with  me." 

"  What  do  you  owe  us  any  blueberries  for  r " 
asked  Marielle. 

"  For  those  which  you  gave  Mary  and  Jenny, 
the  other  day,  to  pay  for  those  I  made  them 
spill." 

"  O,  never  mind  that,"  said  Marielle.  "  Be- 
sides, my  mother  bought  them  that  evening,  and 
so  we  had  them  all  back  again." 

"  So  you  bought  back  your  own  berries  ?  "  said 
Royal. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Marielle.  "  Mary  said  she  did 
not  want  to  sell  us  any,  only  what  she  and  the 
other  children  picked  themselves ;  but  mother 
made  her  take  pay  for  the  whole." 

Royal  concluded  to  go  himself,  for  blueberries, 
14 


158  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

if  Marielle  would  not.     He  went  and  obtained 
his  mother's  leave,  and  then  went  to  ask  his  aunt 
Holiday  to  let  Rollo  go  with  him.     She  said  yes, 
So  the  boys  walked  along  together,  Royal  carry 
ing  a  basket,  and  Rollo  a  little  tin  mug. 

Now,  it  happened  that  there  was  a  small  green 
field,  with  a  path  through  it,  which  the  children 
had  to  pass,  on  their  way  to  the  pasture.  There 
was  a  brook  running  through  the  centre  of  this 
field,  with  smooth  and  beautiful  grass  ground  on 
each  side.  There  was  a  large  grove  at  one  end, 
up  the  brook,  and  there  were  scattered  trees  over 
the  rest  of  the  ground. 

Royal  came  through  the  grove.  By  going 
around  after  Rollo,  he  had  been  taken  somewhat 
out  of  his  way,  so  that  he  had  to  come  through 
the  grove,  instead  of  along  the  path,  through  the 
field,  which  would  have  been  the  way  if  he  had 
come  directly  from  his  father's  house. 

As  they  advanced  towards  the  edge  of  the 
grove,  and  looked  forward,  they  saw  several  chil- 
dren advancing  along  the  path.  There  was  a 
small  flock  of  sheep  scattered  over  the  field, 
cropping  the  grass.  The  field  was  a  mowing 
field ;  but  the  crop  had  been  mowed,  and  so  the 
farmer  that  owned  it  had  turned  the  sheep  in,  to 
feed  upon  the  short  grass  which  was  left.     Rollo 


ROYAL    A    PROTECTOR.  159 

was  glad,  for  he  liked  to  see  sheep  feeding  in 
the  fields. 

Now.  two  circumstances  occurred  at  this  crisis 
which  were  very  fortunate  for  Royal,  in  respect 
to  his  desire  to  retrieve  his  character.  One  was, 
that  Mary  and  Jenny  happened  to  come  after 
blueberries  that  afternoon  again.  The  other  was, 
that,  after  he  had  gone,  Marielle  changed  her 
mind  about  going  herself,  and  proposed  to  Lucy 
that  they  should  go.  She  saw  that  Royal  felt 
troubled  at  the  consequences  of  his  misconduct, 
and  felt  convinced  that  he  would  not  act  so  again. 
She  saw,  too,  that  he  was  very  desirous  to  make 
some  amends  for  the  past,  and  she  thought  that 
he  would  be  pleased  to  have  her  and  Lucy  go 
again,  and  let  him  show  them  the  change  in  his 
demeanor.  So  she  proposed  to  Lucy  to  go; 
and  thus,  by  a  singular  train  of  circumstances,  it 
happened  that,  when  Royal  and  Rollo  came  along 
out  of  the  grove,  the  children  that  they  saw  com- 
ing were,  Jenny  and  her  party  first,  and  Marielle 
and  Lucy  at  a  little  distance  behind. 

He  was  just  on  the  point  of  running  down  to 
meet  them,  when  he  heard  a  loud  but  distant 
voice  calling  to  them.  It  came  from  the  opposite 
side  of  the  field,  where  the  path,  which  the  girls 
were  walking  in,  led  over  into  a  lane  which  con- 


160  LUCy    AT    PLAY. 

ducted  to  a  farm-house.  Royal  and  Rollo  looked 
in  the  direction  from  which  the  sound  came,  and 
listened.  They  saw  a  little  girl  upon  the  bars, 
and  perceived  that  she  was  calling  out  to  them. 

"  Children,"  said  the  girl,  "  children,  run.  Jolly 
is  coming  after  you." 

The  children  looked  around  behind  them,  and 
Royal  and  Rollo  looked  in  the  same  direction ; 
and  they  saw  a  large  ram,  with  monstrous  horns 
curled  all  around  his  ears,  advancing  towards 
Marielle,  nodding  with  his  head,  and  just  upon 
the  point  of  springing  at  her.  Marielle  and  Lucy 
cried  out  in  terror,  and  ran.  The  other  children 
were  before  them,  and  they  ran  too.  But  the 
brook  was  in  their  way,  and  they  could  not  cross 
it  without  some  difficulty  ;  and  they  were  greatly 
terrified  at  finding  themselves  so  hemmed  in,  and 
with  such  a  ferocious-looking  enemy  close  upon 
them. 

Royal  sprang  forward,  and  ran  with  all  his 
speed  down  towards  the  children. 

"  Don't  be  afraid,"  said  he  ;  "  I'll  take  care  of 
the  ram.  I  a'n't  afraid  of  him.  Go  over  the 
brook  as  slowly  as  you  please." 

So  Royal  advanced  to  meet  the  ranr  The 
children  scrambled  along  over  the  brook,  and  then 
ran  up  the  slope  on  the  other  side,  until  they 


ROYAL    A    PROTECTOR.  161 

reached  the  bars,  where  they  all  climbed  over. 
They  had  just  time  to  get  fairly  over,  and  to  look 
around,  when  they  saw  the  ram  come  with  all  his 
force  against  Royal,  and  knock  him  down. 

"  O  dear !  he'll  kill  him  !  "  exclaimed  Marielle. 

But  Royal  was  up  again  in  an  instant.  The 
ram  stepped  back,  nodding  his  head,  and  preparing 
evidently  for  another  charge. 

Royal  waved  his  basket  back  and  forth  a  mo- 
ment to  intimidate  the  ram ;  but  it  seemed  to  have 
but  little  effect.  He  looked  around  him,  and  saw 
a  tree  near.  He  sprang  towards  it,  and  got  round 
behind  it,  and  then  began  to  look  out  from  behind 
it  at  the  ram.  He  saw  that  the  ram  was  stand- 
ing in  a  threatening  attitude,  his  head  down,  and 
apparently  all  ready  for  a  spring. 

"  Now  come  on,  old  fellow,  if  you  please," 
said  Royal,  "  and  beat  your  own  brains  out." 

From  his  post  of  security  Royal  looked  back 
to  see  if  all  the  children  were  safe.  They  were 
all  on  the  other  side  of  the  bars,  excepting  Ma- 
rielle and  Rollo.  For  Marielle  had  come  back 
into  the  field  again,  to  go  after  Rollo,  who  had 
remained  standing  where  Royal  had  left  him. 
She  had  called  to  him  to  come  to  her ;  and  so, 
when  Royal  looked  around,  Rollo  was  running 
along  towards  Marielle,  who  was  holding  out  hei 
14* 


162  LUCY  AT  PLAY. 

hand  and  encouraging  him  along,  but  not  daring 
to  go  herself  a  great  way  from  the  bars. 

"  Royal,"  called  Marielle,  "  can't  you  climb 
up  into  that  tree  ?  and  then  I  will  go  and  get  a 
man  to  come  and  take  the  ram  away." 

"  No,"  said  Royal ;  "  I  know  how  to  manage 
him.     You  lead  Rollo  away." 

So  when  Marielle  and  Rollo  were  safe  upon 
the  other  side  of  the  bars,  Royal,  watching  his 
opportunity,  suddenly  darted  away  from  his  tree, 
and  ran  to  another  one,  at  a  little  distance  from 
it.  The  ram  followed,  still  threatening,  but  de- 
terred from  actually  coming  on  by  seeing  how 
Royal  was  protected  by  the  tree.  He  did  not 
seem  disposed  to  accept  Royal's  invitation  to 
beat  his  own  brains  out  by  knocking  his  head 
against  a  tree. 

Presently  Royal  retreated  to  another  tree,  and 
then  to  another.  The  ram  followed  him,  watch- 
ing him  narrowly,  and  endeavoring  constantly  to 
get  an  opportunity  to  attack  him,  but  in  vain. 
Royal  soon  reached  the  grove.  Here  he  could 
retreat  more  easily  and  rapidly  still,  as  the  trees 
were  quite  near  together.  He  gradually  drew 
nearer  to  the  fence,  though  he  was  coming  to  it 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  bars,  where 
the  other  children  had  got  over.     They,  however, 


ROYAL    A    PROTECTOR.  163 

saw  where  he  was  coming  out,  and  they  passed 
along  to  the  place,  on  the  back  side  of  the  fence, 
so  as  to  be  ready  to  receive  him  when  he  should 
get  over. 

"  Come  quick,  Royal,"  said  Lucy. 

Royal  reached  the  fence,  and  climbed  up  to 
the  top  of  it,  and  took  his  seat  upon  a  post,  where 
he  sat  looking  at  the  ram.  The  ram,  too,  stood 
at  a  few  steps'  distance,  fixing  his  eyes  on  him. 
He  looked  confounded.  He  did  not  know  what 
to  make  of  such  an  escape  from  his  power.  The 
children  on  the  other  side  could  see  through  the 
interstices  between  the  rails. 

"  Well,  sir ! "  said  Royal,  looking  the  ram  full 
in  the  face. 

The  ram  looked  at  him,  but  said  nothing. 

"  What's  his  name,  little  girl  ?  Jolly,  did  you 
say  ?  "  asked  Royal. 

"  Yes,  his  name  is  Jolly,"  replied  the  little 
girl. 

"Well,  Jolly,"  said  Royal,  "I  am  much 
obliged  to  you  for  waiting  upon  me  across  the 
field.  "  I've  got  safe  to  the  fence  now  ;  and  I 
would  recommend  to  you  to  go  back  and  take 
care  of  your  sheep." 

So  Royal  got  down,  and  walked  on  with  the 
children.     They  all  seemed  very  glad  indeed  to 


164  LUCY  AT  PLAY. 

find  him  safe  with  them  again ;  and  they  reached 
the  blueberry  ground  without  any  further  adven- 
ture. 

There  was  a  large  pile  of  boards  at  the  place 
where  they  entered  the  pasture.  The  boards  had 
been  placed  there  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  fence.  The  children  amused  themselves,  a 
few  minutes,  see-sawing,  upon  the  ends  of  the 
boards,  and  then  they  passed  on  to  the  blueberry 
bushes. 

They  went  on  very  pleasantly  for  two  hours, 
gathering  berries.  Royal  put  two  mugs  full  into 
Jenny's  basket,  which  pleased  her  very  much. 
They  Were  all  very  grateful  to  him  for  protecting 
them  from  the  ram,  and  he  himself  found  that  it 
was  far  pleasanter  to  relieve  distress  than  to  create 
it.  In  fact,  it  happened  that,  in  the  course  of  the 
afternoon,  he  had  another  occasion  for  the  exercise 
of  energy  and  courage  in  defending  Marielle  and 
the  children.     It  was  thus  :  — 

Mary  and  her  party  gradually  wandered  off  by 
themselves ;  and  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon, 
they  went  away,  leaving  Royal  and  those  who 
were  with  him  in  the  pasture  alone.  That  is, 
there  was  nobody  near  them,  with  whom  they 
were  acquainted  ;  but  they  could  see,  here  and 
there,  at  a  distance  among  the  bushes,  the  heads 


•    ROYAL    A    PROTECTOR.  165 

of  other  persons,  engaged,  like  themselves,  in  gath- 
ering berries.  They  found  the  berries  very  thick. 
Royal  would  scramble  about  among  the  rocks 
and  bushes,  and  find  the  good  places  ;  and  then 
he  would  call  Marielle  and  the  children  to  come 
and  gather  berries  there. 

About  an  hour  before  sundown,  just  as  Marielle 
was  going  to  say  that  it  was  time  to  go  home,  the 
children  were  alarmed  at  hearing  a  distant  rum- 
bling sound. 

"  What's  that  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  It  is  thunder,"  said  Marielle. 

The  children  looked  up,  and  saw  a  large  black 
cloud  spreading  all  over  the  western  sky.  They 
had  been  so  much  engaged  gathering  their  berries, 
which  caused  them  to  stoop  down  among  the 
bushes,  that  they  had  not  observed  the  cloud 
before. 

"  We  must  go  home  immediately,"  said  Ma- 
rielle, "  or  we  shall  be  caught  in  the  rain." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal.  "  Let  us  pour  our  berries 
into  the  basket,  and  go  right  away."1 

Here  another  distant  peal  of  thunder  rever- 
berated through  the  sky. 

Royal  hastened  to  pour  the  berries  from  his 
mug  into  the  basket,  and  then  he  helped  Rollo 


166  LUCY    AT    PLAY. 

and  Lucy  along  with  theirs.  He  took  up  the 
basket,  which  was  now  pretty  heavy,  and  began 
to  carry  it  along. 

"I'll  take  the  basket,"  he  said  to  Marielle,  "if 
you  will  help  the  children." 

So  Royal  went  on  as  fast  as  he  could,  while 
Marielle  followed  with  the  children.  They 
looked  round  repeatedly  at  the  cloud,  and  it 
seemed  to  be  rising  fast.  The  thunder  grew  loud- 
er and  more  frequent ;  and  once,  when  Marielle 
was  looking  back,  she  saw  a  faint  glitter  in  the 
blackest  part  of  the  cloud.  It  was  a  flash  of 
lightning. 

"  I  don't  believe  we  shall  get  home  before  the 
shower,"  said  Marielle. 

"  Perhaps  we  can  get  into  some  house,"  said 
Royal. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Marielle,  "  only  there  are  no 
houses  very  near." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  "  we  shall  only  get  wet 
pretty  well ;  that  is  all." 

"  I  don't  want  to  get  wet,  I  am  sure,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  And  besides,"  said  little  Rollo,  "  I'm  afraid 
the  thunder  will  strike  us." 

"  O  no,"  said  Royal,  "  I  don't  think  that  there 


*R0YAL  A  PROTECTOR.         167 

is  any  danger  that  the  thunder  will  strike  us.  It 
is  a  great  way  off." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  Royal,  "  we  don't  see  the 
lightning  much.  If  it  was  near,  the  lightning 
would  be  very  bright." 

The  children  looked  back,  from  time  to  time, 
at  the  cloud.  It  seemed  to  be  coming  on  apace. 
Dark  scuds  were  flying  in  contrary  directions 
about  the  edge  of  the  cloud,  and  every  thing  in- 
dicated the  approach  of  a  violent  tempest.  A 
few  drops  of  rain  began  to  fall  just  as  the  children 
came  in  sight  of  the  pile  of  boards. 

"  We  are  a  great  way  yet  from  any  house,"  said 
Marielle.  "  1  don't  believe  that  we  can  get 
to  any." 

"  Then  we  must  get  under  the  ends  of  these 
boards,"  said  Royal.  "There  will  be  some 
shelter  there." 

Marielle  hesitated  a  moment,  thinking  whether 
it  would  be  better  to  stop  and  avail  themselves  of 
the  little  shelter  which  the  boards  would  afford, 
or  to  go  on  in  search  of  a  house,  or  some  building, 
and  by  so  doing  run  the  risk  of  being  caught  out 
where  they  should  be  exposed  entirely  unsheltered 
to  the  whole  fury  of  the  storm.  On  the  whole, 
they  concluded  to  stop.     They  crept  i-n  under 


168  LUCY    AT    PLAY.         » 

the  end  of  the  pile,  where  some  of  the  boards 
projected  farther  than  the  rest,  thus  affording 
them  a  little  shelter. 

"  But  stop,"  said  Royal,  as  if  suddenly  recol- 
lecting himself;  u  I  can  make  you  a  shelter.' 

He  immediately  stepped  out  of  his  retreat,  and 
climbed  up  to  the  top  of  the  pile  of  boards.  He 
began  to  take  off  the  boards  one  by  one,  and  to 
slide  them  down  on  the  side  of  the  pile  which 
was  opposite  to  the  quarter  of  the  heavens  from 
which  the  thunder-cloud  was  coming. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  ?  "  said  Marielle. 

"  I  am  going  to  make  you  a  house,"  said 
Royal. 

Marielle  was  afraid  to  have  Royal  up  so  high, 
especially  now  that  the  wind  was  beginning  to 
blow.  She  could  see  vast  clouds  of  dust  rising 
along  the  line  of  the  roads  at  a  distance ;  and  a 
violent  waving  motion  commenced  upon  the  tops, 
of  the  trees,  accompanied  by  a  loud,  roaring  sound. 
She  begged  Royal  to  come  down. 

Royal  said  that  he  would,  pretty  soon.  In  the 
mean  time,  he  pushed  down  the  boards  one  after 
another,  as  fast  as  he  could,  running  one  end  of 
each  down  to  the  ground,  and  planting  it  at  a  little 
distance  off  from  the  pile.  The  other  end  he  left 
resting  upon  the  edge  of  the  pile.     He  placed  the 


ROYAL  A  PROTECTOR.         169 

boards  side  by  side  in  this  position,  so  that  they 
formed  quite  a  roof,  covering  and  enclosing  a 
pretty  large  space  underneath  them.  When  he 
had  thus  run  down  six  or  eight  boards,  he  told 
Marielle  and  the  children  that  they  had  better  get 
under  them,  as  it  was  just  beginning  to  rain  faster. 

So  Marielle  and  the  two  children  crept  under. 
The  space  was  pretty  large,  and  it  was  high 
enough,  next  to  the  pile  of  boards,  for  them  to 
stand  upright.  Lucy  said  that  it  was  a  very 
good  garret.  Marielle  called  Royal  to  come 
down,  and  come  in  too  ;  but  he  said  that  he  must 
put  some  more  boards  on  first. 

"  Why,  Royal,"  said  Marielle,  "  this  will  do 
very  well.     It  is  large  enough." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  but  I  want  to  put  some 
more  boards  over  it,  to  cover  up  the  cracks." 

"  O,  the  cracks  don't  do  any  hurt,"  said  Ma- 
rielle. "  The  rain  does  not  come  down  the 
cracks  at  all ;  not  a  drop." 

And  Marielle  held  out  her  hand,  as  she  stood 
under  the  roof  which  Royal  had  made  for  her,  to 
see  if  any  rain  came  through. 

"  No,  not  now,  perhaps,"  said  Royal ;  "  but 
presently,  when  the  rain  comes  pouring  down 
in  a  torrent,  it  will." 

Royal  kept  at  work  all  the  time  that  he  was 
15 


170  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

talking,  sliding  down  more  boards,  over  those 
which  he  had  put  down  first,  to  cover  the  cracks. 
In  the  mean  time,  it  began  to  rain ;  and  the 
thunder  grew  louder  and  louder.  The  wind 
howled  about  his  ears,  and  rattled  the  boards,  and 
made  it  very  difficult  for  him  to  place  them.  At 
length,  just  as  Royal  was  ready  to  go  down,  and 
get  in  under  his  hut  himself,  a  sudden  gust  took 
one  of  his  boards,  the  upper  end  of  which  ex- 
tended upwards  farther  than  the  rest,  and  blew  it 
and  three  others  away  from  their  places,  and 
carried  them  out  to  some  distance  on  the  grass. 

Marielle  and  the  children  were  frightened  at 
the  noise ;  but  it  was  now  raining  so  fast  that 
they  did  not  run  out.  Royal  soon  repaired  the 
breach  with  other  boards,  which  he  placed  so  that 
the  wind  should  not  have  any  advantage  in  get- 
ting hold  of  them.  At  length,  when  all  seemed 
secure,  Royal  came  down  from  the  pile,  and  ran 
in  under  the  shelter,  with  the  water  running  down 
off  his  hat  and  clothes  in  streams. 

"  Now,  Royal,"  said  Marielle,  "  you  have  got 
yourself  all  wet  through,  making  us  a  shelter." 

*  That's  no  matter,"  said  Royal.  "  It  is  good 
fun  for  a  boy  to  get  wet." 

Just  then,  a  terrible  clap  of  thunder  burst,  and 
rattled  over  their  heads,  preceded  by  a  vivid  flash 


ROYAL    A    PROTECTOR.  171 

of  lightning.     They  were  all  alarmed  at  the  sound. 
Royal,  however,  said  that  he  thought  that  was  the 
,  worst  clap  they  should  have,  and  that  now  the 
storm  would  soon  be  over. 

And  so  it  proved.  The  wind  soon  abated,  and 
the  thunder  appeared  gradually  to  pass  away 
to  the  eastward.  It  continued  to  rain  in  torrents 
for  some  time;  but  then  they  were  completely 
protected  from  it,  and  did  not  get  wet  at  all.  It 
was  an  hour  before  the  rain  was  entirely  over,  so 
that  they  could  go  out  and  go  home.  But  then 
the  air  was  bright,  the  sun  was  shining,  and  all 
nature  looked  refreshed.  Royal  felt  much  better 
pleased  with  having  been  the  protector  of  his 
party,  than  with  having  teased  and  troubled  them 
as  he  had  done  on  the  former  day.  And  though 
Marielledid  not  say  any  thing  about  it,  he  knew 
that  she  was  pleased  with  him  too.  Royal  liked 
Marielle  for  her  gentleness  and  patience;  and 
she  liked  him  lor  his  energy  and  courage. 


172 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE   DICTIONARY. 

One  evening,  Lucy  was  playing  in  the  parlor 
where  her  mother  was  at  work  sewing.  Lucy 
was  sitting  upon  a  cricket,  looking  over  a  book, 
Presently  she  found,  between  the  leaves  of  the 
book,  a  small  piece  of  white  paper. 

"  O  mother !  I've  found  a  piece  of  paper," 
said  she. 

Her  mother  did  not  answer. 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  pen  and  ink,"  said  Lucy 
again,  in  a  tone  intermediate  between  talking  to 
herself  and  to  her  mother;  "  then  I  would  write  a 
letter  on  this  piece  of  paper." 

"And  what  would  you  do  with  your  letter?" 
said  her  mother. 

"  Why,  I  would  play  that  I  was  the  postman, 
and  so  I  would  carry  it  about." 

Just  then  Lucy  happened  to  recollect  that  her 
father  was  in  his  room  writing ;  and  so  she  con- 
cluded that  she  would  go  in  and  ask  him  to  write 


THE    DICTIONARY.  173 

her  a  letter.  She  accordingly  rose  from  her  seat, 
and  went  to  the  door  of  her  father's  room. 

The  door  was  open  a  little  way,  and  Lucy 
had  a  great  mind  to  go  in  without  knocking.  But, 
then,  she  remembered  that  it  was  proper  for  her 
to  knock  at  her  father's  door,  and  she  accordingly 
did  so.  Nobody  answered.  Then  Lucy  pushed 
the  door  a  little,  so  as  to  open  it  wider,  in  order 
to  see  whether  her  father  was  there. 

He  was  not  there.  There  was  nobody  there. 
Lucy  pushed  the  door  open  farther,  and  walked  in. 

There  was  a  lamp  burning  upon  a  table  which 
stood  against  the  window.  Several  books  and 
papers  were  upon  the  table.  One  great  book 
was  lying  open.  There  was  a  round,  black  ink- 
stand not  far  from  the  book.  It  had  a  large,  coni- 
cal hole  in  the  middle  of  it,  which  led  down  to 
the  ink ;  and  there  were  several  smaller  holes 
around,  near  the  edge,  to  put  the  pen  into.  There 
was  a  pen  with  its  point  in  one  of  these  holes, 
the  top  of  it  leaning  over  to  one  side. 

"  Now,  here's  a  pen  and  ink  all  ready,"  said 
Lucy  ;  "  but  where's  my  father  ? " 

Lucy  walked  up  to  the  table,  and  began  to  look 

at  the  book  which  was  lying  open.      "  What  a 

great  book  !"  she  said.     "  I  wonder  if  I  can  read 

in  such  a  great  book.     Here  are   some  big  let-. 

15* 


174  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

ters  on  the  top.     I   can  read  such  big  letters  as 
these." 

There  were  three  big  letters,  in  two  places,  on 
the  top  of  each  page ;  and  Lucy  began  to  read 
them. 

"  H-o-n,"  said  Lucy,  reading —  "  H-o-n  " 
spells  hon ;  but  I  don't  know  what  hon  means. 
I  wonder  what  this  book  is  about." 

But  Lucy  could  not  find  out  what  it  was 
about,  and  so  she  thought  that,  as  her  father  was 
away,  she  would  take  the  pen  and  write  herself 
a  letter.  She  accordingly  put  her  paper  down 
upon  the  corner  of  the  table,  and  then,  reaching 
over  the  great  book,  she  dipped  the  pen  care- 
fully into  the  conical  hole  in  the  middle  of  the 
inkstand.  She  then  drew  the  pen  very  slowly 
and  cautiously  to  the  paper,  secretly  feeling, 
however,  all  the  time,  that  she  was  doing  wrong. 

Lucy  made  several  marks  upon  her  paper,  and 
then  the  ink  in  her  pen  failed.  She  accordingly 
reached  back  to  the  inkstand  to  get  some  more. 
She  thought  that  she  did  not  dip  her  pen  far 
enough  down  before,  and  that  that  was  the  rea- 
son why  the  ink  failed  so  quick.  She,  therefore, 
this  time,  dipped  the  pen  in  so  far  that  the  point 
of  it  touched  the  bottom  of  the  inkstand ;  and 
so,  when  it  came  up,  it  was  full  of  ink. 


THE    DICTIONARY.  175 

It  was  too  full  of  ink,  in  fact,  so  that  a  little 
drop  hung  from  the  point  just  ready  to  fall ;  and 
very  unfortunately,- just  as  Lucy  had  got  the  pen 
almost  across  the  great  book,  the  drop  did  fall, 
and  it  made  quite  a  large,  round  spot  upon  the 
middle  of  one  of  the  pages. 

Lucy  was  very  much  frightened  at  this  occur- 
rence. She  put  the  pen  back  in  its  place,  and 
began  to  walk  as  fast  as  she  could  go  out  of  the 
room.  In  a  moment,  however,  she  reflected  that, 
as  soon  as  her  father  came  in,  he  would  see  the 
ink  spot,  and  would  at  once  inquire  who  made  it. 
So  she  thought  that  she  would  come  and  shut  the 
book  up,  and  that  would  keep  the  ugly-looking 
blot  out  of  sight.  She  accordingly  came  back 
hastily  to  the  table,  shut  the  book  up,  and  then 
went  immediately  away. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  ingenious  precaution, 
her  mind  continued  in  a  state  of  great  agitation 
and  alarm.  She  went  back  to  her  cricket,  and 
began  to  look  over  her  book  again  :  but  she  felt 
very  wretched.  Finally,  she  came  to  the  very 
wise  conclusion  of  going  back  at  once,  and  find- 
ing her  father,  and  telling  him  all  about  the 
affair. 

She  put  her  book  down  upon  the  cricket,  and 
went  again  towards  her  father's  room.     She  found 


176  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

her  father  just  going  into  the  room,  with  a  large 
book  of  maps  under  his  arm. 

"  Well,  Lucy,"  said  her  father,  "  are  you  com- 
ing to  see  me  ?  " 

Lucy  walked  slowly  towards  him,  with  a  down- 
cast look,  but  she  said  nothing.  "  What  is  the 
matter,  Lucy  ? "  said  her  father. 

it  Why,  —  why,"  said  Lucy,  in  a  very  low  and 
timid  voice,  — "  the  ink  has  got  on  your  great 
book." 

"My   great  book?     What  book?"  said  her 

father. 

"  Your  great  book  on  the  table ;  —  that  great 

book." 

So  saying,  Lucy  pointed  to  the  book  upon  the 
table;  for  by  this  time  they  had  got  into  the 
room  where  they  could  see  the  table  and  the 
book  upon  it. 

"  Where  ?  "  said  her  father.  "  Where  is  the 
ink?" 

"  Somewhere  in  the  middle  of  it,"  said  Lucy. 
"  But  I  don't  suppose  I  can  find  it  now." 

Her  father  took  up  the  great  book,  and  began 
turning  over  the  leaves ;  but  he  did  not  find  the 
ink  spot. 

"  But,  Lucy,"  said  he,  "  how  did  you  get  the 
ink  upon  my  book  ? " 


& 


THE    DICTIONARY.  177 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  you  see,  I  was 
going  to  write  me  a  letter,  and  the  ink  wouldn't 
stay  in  the  pen." 

"Now,  Lucy,  that  was  very  wrong.  You 
ought  not  to  come  to  my  table,  and  to  take  my 
pen  and  ink  without  leave.  How  big  was  die 
blot?" 

"  'Twas  pretty  big,"  said  Lucy,  timidly. 

"I  can't  find  the  place,"  said  her  father.  " O, 
now  I  remember.  It  must  have  been  at  horizon, 
I  was  looking  horizon,  to  see  how  it  was  ac- 
cented." 

"  No,  sir,  it  was  at  hon.  I  remember  now 
myself;  it  was  at  hon." 

Her  father  made  no  reply,  but,  after  turning 
over  a  few  leaves,  he  came  at  once  to  the  place, 
and  there,  to  Lucy's  utter  astonishment,  there 
were  two  blots,  instead  of  one ;  there  was  one  on 
each  page.  They  were  very  large,  too,  much 
larger  than  the  one  which  Lucy  had  seen. 

"  Now,  there  are  two  blots,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  how 
came  that  other  one  there?  " 

"  Why,  that  was  made  by  shutting  up  the  book," 
said  her  father.     "  How  came  the  book  shut  up  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  shut  it,  sir,"  said  Lucy. 

"  What  did  you  shut  it  for  ? "  said  her  father 

"  Because,"   said   Lucy,   speaking   in  a  very 


178  LUCY    AT    PLAT. 

timid  voice  again,  "  I  did  not  want  you  to  see 
the  blot." 

"Then  what  did  you  come  and  tell  me  for?  " 
said  her  father. 

"  Why,  I  thought  it  would  be  better  to  come 
and  tell  you,"  said  Lucy. 

"  You  first  shut  the  book  in  order  to  conceal  it, 
and  then  you  altered  your  mind,  and  so  came  and 
told  me;  was  that  it?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Well,"  said  her  father,  "  that  was  honest,  at 
any  rate.  And  the  blot,  I  see,  is  on  the  very 
word  honesty.     What  a  curious  coincidence  1 " 

"I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  coinci- 
dence" said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  you  were  honest  in  coming  to  tell  me  ol 
the  blot,  and  the  blot  happens  to  be  upon  the 
word  honesty:  That's  a  coincidence.  I  am 
glad  you  were  honest ;  but,  then,  you  did  very 
wrong  to  come  and  attempt  to  write  with  my 
pen.  You  have  done  me  a  great  deal  of  mis- 
chief." 

"Can't  you  get  the  blots  out,  any  possible 
way  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  No,  I  presume  not,"  he  replied.  "  I  might 
tiy  an  acid,  however,"  he  added,  in  a  low  voice, 
as  if  talking  to  himself. 


THE     DICTIONARY.  179 

" I  wish  you  would,  father,"  said  Lucy.  "Do 
try  an  acid,  father." 

Lucy  did  not  know  what  an  acid  was,  nor 
how  her  father  was  going  to  attempt  to  remove 
the  ink  stains  by  means  of  it ;  but  she  was  very 
eager  to  have  him  try  any  thing  which  promised 
any  chance  of  success. 

"  I  don't  think  I  can  take  the  spots  out  en- 
tirely," said  her  father;  "but  perhaps  I  can 
change  their  color,  so  that  they  will  not  be  quite 
so  conspicuous." 

As  he  said  this,  he  took  the  lamp  and  went 
away,  Lucy  following  him.  He  went  to  a  closet 
which  was  in  another  room,  and  took  down  a 
small  phial,  and  poured  out  a  few  drops  of  the 
liquid  which  was  in  it,  into  a  tea-cup.  Then  he 
got  some  water,  and  poured  about  a  spoonful 
into  the  tea-cup  too.  Then  he  came  back  with 
Lucy  into  his  own  room. 

"  First,"  said  he,  "  we  will  try  it  upon  another 
piece  of  paper." 

So  saying,  he  took  a  small  piece  of  newspaper, 
and  made  a  blot  upon  it  about  as  large  as  those 
which  Lucy  had  made  in  the  book.  Then  he 
held  the  newspaper  to  the  fire  until  the  blot 
was  dry. 

"  Now  I  must  make  a  little  brush,"  said  he. 


180  HTCY    AT    TLAY. 

"How  can  you  make  a  brush ? "  said  Lucy. 
Her  father  only  said  in  reply,  "You  will  see." 
He  went  to  his  closet,  and  took  a  quill  out  from  a 
bunch  which  was  there.  He  cut  off  the  top,  and 
put  the  quill  back,  and  then  brought  the  top  to 
the  table.  Then  he  stripped  off  all  the  feathers 
except  a  small  tuft  at  the  end,  and  that,  he  said, 
was  his  brush. 

This  brush  he  dipped  into  the  tea-cup,  and  then 
very  carefully  washed  over  the  ink  spot  upon  the 
newspaper.  Lucy  saw  that  it  made  the  spot 
look  much  more  dim.  Then  her  father  washed 
over  the  spots  in  the  book  in  the  same  way.  The 
spots  grew  faint,  and  turned  of  a  reddish  color; 
but  he  could  not  get  them  out  entirely. 

«  It  looks  a  great  deal  better,"  said  her  father, 
"but  I  cannot  get  them  out  entirely.  There 
they  must  stay  forever.  I  shall  see  them  a  great 
many  times,  for  they  are  in  my  dictionary,  and  I 
am  often  turning  over  the  leaves.  And  always 
when  I  see  them  I  shall  remember  how  they 
came  there.  One  of  them  will  remind  me  of 
vour  heedlessness,  and  the  other  of  your  hon 
estv." 


THE    END. 


